HOUSTON — The baseball arced off Mauricio Dubón’s bat and deep into left-center field. Willi Castro tracked it to the wall and leapt. Dubón’s drive eluded him, ending a game and igniting a celebration.

For a second straight day, the Houston Astros won in walk-off fashion, this time claiming a 2-1 win in 10 innings that capped a sweep of the Minnesota Twins at Daikin Park and continued a surge.

A lineup missing its top slugger and its home run leader was held scoreless until the ninth inning Sunday. It totaled four hits, all singles. The Astros still won for the 16th time in their last 22 games, climbing a season-high 11 games above .500.

“We know how to win,” Dubón said. “That’s the thing. We don’t stop fighting.”

Houston mustered two hits before the ninth inning Sunday. The Twins summoned Jhoan Durán, the fireballing closer who surrendered Cam Smith’s walk-off single a day earlier, to try to finish the game.

He could not. Durán issued a leadoff walk to Jeremy Peña. He struck out Yainer Diaz, but Peña stole second base, then took third when Jose Altuve beat a slow bouncer to shortstop Carlos Correa for an infield single.

“Just scrapping things around, man,” manager Joe Espada said.

Victor Caratini skied a first-pitch splitter to left field, deep enough to score Peña. Josh Hader inherited a 1-1 tie in the top of the 10th and stranded the Twins’ ghost runner, inducing two pop-outs around a strikeout, the last from Correa.

“You let that guy score, now that base hit is to tie the game instead of win the game,” Hader said. “A little bloop hit can score him. So it’s just trying to make the big hit when it’s necessary.”

That Hader even appeared could be traced to Smith’s heroics a day earlier. Hader worked the top of the ninth Saturday and was poised to return to the mound in the 10th, which would have rendered him unavailable for the finale.

Cole Sands threatened to mirror Hader. The right-hander induced a groundout by Smith and struck out Cooper Hummel. It brought up Dubón, hitless in his last 15 at-bats, including his first three Sunday.

“I told (Yordan) Alvarez in the seventh inning, if we tied it in the ninth I was going to come and win it,” Dubón said.

Sands elevated a 1-0 cutter. Dubón drove it 372 feet to left-center. It carried just beyond Castro’s reach. Ghost runner Jake Meyers crossed home plate as Astros players ran to swarm Dubón on the infield.

“I hit it well, so I was hoping it would hit the wall or something,” Dubón said. “We just needed a single.”

Timing infused the moment with meaning. Sunday marked Dubón’s first Father’s Day as a father. The 30-year-old super-utilityman addressed reporters post-game cradling his son, Luciano, in the crook of his left arm.

“It’s pretty crazy,” Dubón said.

Might he show a clip to Luciano one day?

“Hopefully,” Dubón said. “One day.”

Brandon Walter gave Houston another encouraging start, working into the seventh inning and allowing one run on a third-inning homer by Brooks Lee. Shawn Dubin and Bennett Sousa combined to keep the deficit at 1-0 entering the ninth.

Dubón had one of two hits in the game with a man in scoring position. The Twins were hitless in eight such at-bats, a statistic that proved their undoing. Houston won for just the second time in 29 games this year when trailing after eight innings.

“Those guys just don’t quit,” Espada said. “They fight ’til the end.”

Quality start from Walter

Walter, the left-hander plugged into the rotation amid Houston’s stretch of 13 games with no off-day, continued his positive early impression. In three major-league starts, Walter has worked 17 2/3 innings and produced a 1.53 ERA. Two have been quality starts.

Against a Twins lineup with eight right-handed hitters, Walter allowed six hits over 6 2/3 innings. Five were singles. Lee struck the exception, a line-drive home run into the Crawford Boxes on a center-cut cutter in a 2-0 count.

Walter did not walk a batter and struck out nine. Twice, he escaped innings stranding two runners. The Twins put men on second and third with two outs in the fifth. Walter froze Willi Castro with a full-count sinker for strike three.

“Try to give them different looks when I get to two strikes,” Walter said. “I’ve got a couple different options to go to, so just mix it up and try to get chases. And then later in the count, if it’s 3-2 or 2-2, try to go in zone and get a looking strike or at least weak contact.”

Walter threw 70 strikes on 97 pitches. He navigated Minnesota’s lineup three times, exiting with a man on first and two outs in the seventh. Dubin allowed a single to Ryan Jeffers but induced a pop-out from Correa to preserve a 1-0 game.

“Walter, really good,” Espada said. “He’s deceptive, attacks the zone. He’s a tough at-bat.”

Hometown kid

Twins right-hander Simeon Woods Richardson, the 24-year-old right-hander out of Sugar Land’s Kempner High School, authored a strong performance in his third career start against the Astros and second at Daikin Park.

Woods Richardson retired his first 13 batters in order. He needed just 31 pitches to work his first four innings, using a four-pitch mix to get early contact. He retired five of his first 12 hitters with one pitch. Just two hit a ball to an outfielder.

Meyers ended his budding bid for perfection. Meyers sent a one-out chopper up the middle in the fifth. Correa dived for it, but the ball kicked off his glove. It was promptly ruled a single. Smith worked a 10-pitch walk.

Woods Richardson struck out Hummel and induced a lineout from Dubón to escape. Minnesota removed him after five innings and just 53 pitches. The Astros averaged just an 82.5 mph exit velocity on 12 balls put in play against him.

Scare for Altuve

In the seventh, Altuve was struck on the inside of the right forearm by a 98.6 mph fastball from Louis Varland. Altuve went to the ground in pain and was visited by an Astros trainer and Espada but stayed in the game to run the bases.

Altuve was quickly erased when Caratini grounded into a double play. Altuve served as Houston’s designated hitter Sunday, leaving his status in question until his next at-bat. He remained in the game to hit in the bottom of the ninth.

“He’s going to be sore,” Espada said. “Obviously he stayed in the game, got that big knock there.”

Lineup talk

First baseman Christian Walker received a scheduled day off, just the third of 71 games this season he has not started. Walker produced his first four-RBI game with the Astros on Thursday but went 1-for-11 over his next three games, dropping his OPS back to .638.

Third baseman Isaac Paredes was out of the lineup for a third straight game due to the left hamstring strain he sustained Thursday. Paredes ran in the outfield before the game. Espada left the possibility open that Paredes could be available off the bench, but Paredes did not appear.

Luis Guillorme and Hummel, both called up from Triple-A on Saturday, drew their first starts for Houston this season. Guillorme started at third base in Paredes’ place. Hummel started in left field with Altuve serving as designated hitter. Caratini started at first base with Walker off.

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