The Houston Astros needed Ethan Pecko to survive the first inning Sunday, and they needed LaMonte Wade Jr. to change the game in the sixth. Both delivered.
Wade came off the bench and hit a two-run homer to give Houston the lead, while Pecko recovered from back-to-back first-inning home runs to earn his first major league victory as the Astros beat the New York Mets 6-3 at Citi Field and took two of three in the series. Houston improved to 69-68, but the Rangers also won Sunday, cutting the Astros’ AL West lead to one game. Seattle lost again.
Pecko Recovers From a Rough First
Jeremy Peña gave Pecko a lead before he ever took the mound, opening the game with his 17th home run of the season. It lasted two batters.
Francisco Lindor led off the bottom of the first with a homer to right, and Juan Soto followed with another to center. Three hitters into his third major league start, Pecko and the Astros trailed 2-1.
Then Pecko settled down. Bo Bichette followed Soto’s homer with a single, but Pecko retired the next three Mets and did not allow another hit over his final four innings.
Houston tied the game in the second when Yainer Diaz was hit by a pitch, Nick Allen singled, and Peña drove Diaz home with a two-out single. New York regained the lead in the fifth without a hit. A.J. Ewing walked, stole second, and reached third on Diaz’s throwing error. Marcus Semien walked before Luis Torrens grounded into a double play, allowing Ewing to score.
Pecko finished the inning and his afternoon with Houston trailing 3-2. His final line was five innings, three hits, three runs—two earned—two walks, and four strikeouts. It wasn’t dominant, but after the first inning, it was effective. For a rotation that has spent much of August struggling simply to provide innings, five from Pecko mattered.
LaMonte Wade Jr. Changes the Game
The Astros were still down 3-2 when Yainer Diaz doubled with two outs in the sixth. Instead of sending Cam Smith to the plate against Mets reliever Jonathan Pintaro, Houston went to Wade, and the move worked immediately.
Wade drove Pintaro’s pitch over the right-field wall for his third home run of the season, scoring Diaz and turning a one-run deficit into a 4-3 Astros lead. It was Wade’s only hit in two at-bats and easily the biggest swing of the game.
Houston added two more runs in the seventh. Isaac Paredes walked, Jose Altuve singled, and Christian Walker was hit by a pitch to load the bases with one out. Daulton Varsho then grounded to first, bringing home Paredes before Jared Young’s throwing error allowed Altuve to score as well. The Astros had turned a 3-2 deficit into a 6-3 lead in the span of two innings.
The Bullpen Makes It Stand
AJ Blubaugh took over for Pecko in the sixth and gave Houston two scoreless innings, allowing one hit and striking out two. Bryan Abreu followed in the eighth and recorded the first two outs before walking Soto and Bichette, putting the tying run at the plate.
Steven Okert entered and got Carson Benge to fly out, ending the threat. Josh Hader took the ninth with a three-run lead and allowed a two-out double to Ewing before retiring Semien on a fly ball to finish the 6-3 win and earn his 21st save.
The bullpen combined for four scoreless innings after Pecko departed, allowing the Astros to protect a lead that had disappeared almost immediately in the first inning.
Peña and Allen Help Carry the Offense
Peña finished 2-for-5 with his leadoff homer and two RBI, while Nick Allen went 3-for-4 with a double as Houston collected 10 hits. Altuve added two hits, and Diaz doubled and scored twice.
Yordan Alvarez had a much quieter afternoon only hours after entering Sunday atop all three American League Triple Crown categories. Alvarez went 0-for-5 with a strikeout, dropping his batting average from .320 to .317. The Triple Crown race was already close, and Sunday tightened it further.
For the Astros, however, the encouraging part was that they found enough offense elsewhere. Peña supplied two runs, Wade delivered the decisive swing from the bench, and the bottom of the order helped produce a series-clinching win on a day when Alvarez went hitless.
Astros Take the Series, but the AL West Tightens
Houston came to New York needing to survive a difficult road series with a pitching staff stretched thin and instead won two of three. Hunter Brown gave them 6⅔ innings in Friday’s 3-1 victory, Saturday’s pitching plan unraveled in a 6-2 loss, and on Sunday, a 23-year-old making his third major league start recovered from two immediate home runs and gave them five innings.
The victory moves Houston to 69-68, but there was no help from Texas this time. The Rangers won Sunday, trimming the Astros’ lead in the AL West to one game, while Seattle lost and fell another game behind Houston.
The division remains far from settled, but after arriving at Citi Field with a battered rotation and little room for error, the Astros leave New York with a series win. And Ethan Pecko leaves New York with his first major league victory.
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