Houston’s margin for error has nearly vanished, and Saturday night at Daikin Park showed how quickly a game can turn when the bullpen door opens at the wrong moment. Ronald Acuña Jr. broke a seventh-inning tie with a grand slam off Bryan Abreu, lifting Atlanta to a 6-3 win and handing the Astros their ninth defeat in 13 games.
The loss left Houston at 77-78, below the .500 line for the first time since Aug. 26. Texas took care of Toronto, 6-2, and moved one game ahead of the Astros in the American League West race.
Houston had received a steady start from Hayden Wesneski, who worked 5 1/3 innings and allowed one run on four hits. Isaac Paredes supplied the early offense, sending a first-inning homer out for the Astros’ first two runs before adding an RBI single in the third.
That 2-1 edge held into the seventh, but AJ Blubaugh could not keep Atlanta’s lower third of the order off the bases. The Braves loaded them with the Nos. 7, 8 and 9 hitters reaching, bringing Acuña to the plate with one swing capable of changing the whole night. Abreu fired a 97 mph fastball, and Acuña drove it over the left-field wall for four runs and a 5-2 Atlanta lead.
Mike Yastrzemski added insurance in the eighth, homering against Logan VanWey, who had been summoned from Triple-A before the game. The Astros answered with Yainer Diaz’s RBI double, trimming the deficit to three and putting pinch-hitter Nelson Velázquez at the plate as the potential tying run. Velázquez struck out, and the rally ended there.
One home date left, then an unfriendly road
Houston will wrap up its home schedule Sunday in the series finale against Atlanta, then head west for the final six games of the regular season: two in Seattle and four against the Athletics.
Those matchups have not treated the Astros kindly in 2026. Houston is 2-9 against the Mariners and 4-5 against the A’s, a combined 6-14 record against the two AL West opponents waiting at the finish line. With the division race tightening and the club now chasing Texas, the Astros will need a better final week than their recent stretch has offered.
