Astros fall to A's 6-4 on June 20, 2025, after Nick Kurtz's walk-off homer erased Victor Caratini's heroics. Read how it all unfolded in extras.
StatPro MLB Beat Reporter
What a gut punch. Just when you thought the Astros had pulled a rabbit out of the hat with a stunning late-game comeback, the baseball gods reminded us they have a cruel sense of humor. Victor Caratini's heroic three-run blast in the eighth inning was erased in the tenth, as the Astros fell 6-4 to the Oakland Athletics on a walk-off homer, leaving fans with a bitter taste of déjà vu.
A's rookie Nick Kurtz has now hit two walk-off home runs against the Astros in the last four days.
Let's set the scene: bottom of the eighth, two outs, down 4-1, and facing A's flamethrower Mason Miller. Things looked bleak. Then, on the very first pitch he saw, Victor Caratini did the impossible. He launched a three-run moonshot to tie the game, sending the Astros dugout into a frenzy. It was the kind of clutch, game-changing moment that defines a season, a powerful answer from an unexpected hero that completely shifted the momentum. For a moment, it felt like a signature Astros comeback win was inevitable.
The game stayed knotted at four until the bottom of the tenth. In came Astros closer Josh Hader, who had been a perfect 4-0 on the season. After a strikeout, Hader faced rookie Nick Kurtz. If that name sounds familiar, it should. On a 2-1 sinker, Kurtz did it again, launching a two-run walk-off homer to end the game. It was a stunning blow, handing Hader his first loss of 2025 and marking the second time in just four days that Kurtz has walked it off against Houston. You simply can't write this stuff.
While the late-game drama stole the headlines, the Astros were playing from behind most of the night. Starter Colton Gordon had a rough outing, surrendering three home runs, including Willie McIver's first career blast and solo shots from Lawrence Butler and Jacob Wilson. The offense couldn't get much going until the eighth. Credit where it's due, however, to Bryan Abreu, who came into a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the bottom of the eighth and escaped without any damage, keeping the game within reach and setting the stage for Caratini's heroics.
There's no time to dwell on a loss this tough. The team immediately heads to Anaheim for a weekend series against the Angels, and the Astros are sending the right man to the mound to stop the bleeding. The club announced that ace-in-the-making Hunter Brown (8-3, 1.88 ERA) will get the start on Friday. Handing the ball to your best pitcher is the perfect recipe for washing away a bad loss. It's a reminder of the team's depth and resilience, a quality built over years of developing talent—as player development director Jacob Buffa recently noted—despite a farm system that began the year ranked near the bottom of the league.
This one stings, no doubt about it. To have victory snatched away after such a thrilling comeback is a tough pill to swallow. But this is a long season, and this veteran Astros team knows how to turn the page. All eyes are now on Hunter Brown and the upcoming series against the Angels. It's a new day, a new opponent, and a chance to prove that a little walk-off déjà vu can't derail this team's ultimate goal.
