Arizona Diamondbacks vs Houston Astros Box Score on Sep 14, 2018

Jon Jay delivered a pinch-hit, broken-bat, RBI triple with two outs in the eighth inning to key the Arizona Diamondbacks' 4-2 victory over the host Houston Astros on Friday at Minute Maid Park.

The Diamondbacks scratched across two runs with two outs in the eighth off Astros setup man Hector Rondon (2-4), parlaying a measure of fortuitous luck on consecutive run-scoring hits.

Jay, hitting for catcher Jeff Mathis, muscled a 1-0 fastball into right field, snapping his bat and plating Nick Ahmed with the go-ahead run. Astros right fielder Josh Reddick was shifted toward center defensively, allowing Jay to reach third and set the table for center fielder A.J. Pollock.

Facing a 2-2 count, Pollock lofted a shallow fly ball to center that cleared second baseman Jose Altuve yet dropped in front of the diving George Springer, driving in Jay and doubling the lead.

Arizona right-hander Brad Ziegler (2-6), who recorded a called third strike on Springer to strand a pair of runners in scoring position in the seventh inning, worked a scoreless eighth despite allowing a single to shortstop Carlos Correa following his two-out walk to Yuli Gurriel. Yoshihisa Hirano worked the ninth and got the save for the Diamondbacks, who had dropped five of their last six games.

The Astros (92-55) finished 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position and lost for only the second time this month. Their lead over Oakland in the American League West was trimmed to 2 1/2 games after the Athletics took a 2-1 win in 10 innings against the Tampa Bay Rays.

After the Diamondbacks (78-70) grabbed a 2-0 lead in the first inning against Astros left-hander Dallas Keuchel, Houston matched with a two-run bottom half against Arizona left-hander Robbie Ray.

Keuchel surrendered a two-run single to left fielder David Peralta immediately after Paul Goldschmidt advanced Eduardo Escobar to third base with a ground-rule double. Keuchel pitched around traffic throughout his six innings, allowing five hits and four walks yet limiting the damage to the two runs he surrendered with one out in the first. He recorded 99 pitches.

Ray allowed the first four batters he faced to reach safely, with Gurriel producing an RBI single that sliced the deficit in half before Altuve scored on a double-play grounder from Correa. But Ray recovered to work 5 1/3 innings, allowing only two hits and three walks with six strikeouts.

--Field Level Media