Astros beat Blue Jays

HOUSTON — Robinson Chirinos said he was late on the fastball the whole game. He finally caught up to one when it counted most.

Chirinos hit his first grand slam and finished with a careerhigh six RBIs, Gerrit Cole struck out 10 and the Houston Astros routed the Toronto Blue Jays 15-2 on Friday night.

“Thank God I was able to square one that went out of the ballpark,” Chirinos said.

“It was fun.”

After Toronto walked Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez on four pitches with the bases loaded, Chirinos cleared the bases with his 12th homer of the season off Thomas Pannone.

The Astros won their 13th straight series opener and improved to 9-3 in June.

Cole (6-5) allowed two runs and three hits while increasing his MLB-leading strikeout total to 140.

The Blue Jays’ runs came in the fifth inning. Cavan Biggio, son of Astros Hall of Fame second baseman Craig Biggio, drew applause when he came to the plate. The younger Biggio doubled to deep centre field off Cole, scoring two runs. The elder Biggio cheered from the front row near the Houston dugout.

“I think it just goes to show the amount of respect the name Biggio holds in this stadium,” the younger Biggio said. “I think it’s cool for me, but it’s even a better tribute to my father and what he did.”

Biggio said he was a little emotional in his first at-bat after hearing longtime Astros PA announcer Bob Ford’s voice say his last name the same way he heard him announce his father’s name for many years of his childhood. He said he knew where his family was sitting but tried not to look at them.

Both teams loaded the bases in the first inning. The results were starkly different for each of the starting pitchers. Cole escaped the inning with a strikeout.

“I got into a better rhythm with the fastball command,” Cole said.