Astros carry shaken-up roster into rubber game with Rays

For the Houston Astros, there are roster moves, and then there are roster moves.

The Astros reinstated outfielder LaMonte Wade Jr. from the 10-day injured list and recalled utility player Zach Dezenzo from Triple-A Sugar Land before Saturday's 10-8 walkoff victory over the Tampa Bay Rays, with outfielders Jake Meyers and Joey Loperfido optioned to Sugar Land as corresponding moves.

Dezenzo recorded a game-tying, pinch-single that capped the Astros' three-run seventh inning. He pinch hit for Wade, who finished 0-for-3 with a strikeout. Wade had missed 22 games due to a right hamstring strain.

Houston ended Tampa Bay's nine-game winning streak on Yordan Alvarez's two-run homer with no outs in the ninth. The teams will meet in the decisive contest of their three-games series in Houston on Sunday afeternoon.

Of the roster moves, Astros manager Joe Espada said: "We're just trying to improve our club. We're trying to get some production from the outfield. Getting Wade and Dezenzo, you change things up, just trying to get some quality at-bats.

"There's still a lot of season left. Hopefully, these moves make us better, and we will get some more offensive production."

Espada acknowledged that Meyers' demotion was a difficult conversation. Meyers, 30, has played in 517 games with the Astros since his debut on Aug. 1, 2021, with Jose Altuve (752) and Alvarez (677) the only position players currently on the active roster with more games played for the club since the start of the 2021 season.

Jeremy Pena (616 games) is on the 10-day IL.

Meyers was batting .206 with three home runs and 11 RBIs in 52 games this season. He hit .292 with three homers and 24 RBIs in 104 games last year.

"Not easy," Espada said of the conversation with Meyers. "He's helped us win a lot of games. He's part of this organization's success, but he understood.

"We're going to help him. We're going to pinpoint some things he'll be working on in Triple-A."

Right-hander Peter Lambert (6-5, 3.51 ERA) will start the series finale for the Astros on Sunday. He allowed four runs on five hits -- including three home runs -- and three walks with four strikeouts over 5 2/3 innings in a 5-4 loss to the Minnesota Twins on Monday, his first loss since May 17 against Texas. Lambert was 4-0 with a 2.97 ERA over the six starts between losses.

He has a 2.57 ERA across two career appearances (one start) against the Rays. He threw two scoreless innings of relief against them with the Colorado Rockies on April 5, 2024, allowing two hits and one walk with two strikeouts in the Rockies' 10-7 victory.

The Rays did not announce a starter for the series rubber match. The club will make a roster move early Sunday and will name a starter following that transaction.

After needing only 28 pitches to induce 11 outs in the series opener, the Rays' bullpen allowed five runs over the final three-plus innings on Saturday. Before the walk-off loss, the Rays' bullpen had averaged 11.6 pitches per inning during the first four games of the team's current six-game road trip.

"The bullpen has just been tremendous for us. That inning just snuck up," Rays manager Kevin Cash said of the Astros' three-run seventh. "We had a little bit of a hiccup."

--Field Level Media