4 homers power Astros’ victory
No matter the volume of questions the Astros were asked leading to this week about their hardships against the Texas Rangers, the only real answers would come through performance.
More failure against their intrastate rivals would only fuel the narratives of the previous two seasons. Even a split of the four-game series wouldn’t alter the discourse all that much.
But after wins on three consecutive nights, the latest by a dominant 10-1 margin on Wednesday, these Astros have begun to flip the script. This year, they are the team building the significant early-season lead in the standings, while for the Rangers losses pile up amid mounting injuries.
Off to their best start since 2006, the Astros (19-9) will go into Thursday afternoon’s series finale as the owners of baseball’s best record. They will attempt to defeat the Rangers for a fourth consecutive game for the first time since 2014. As is, Wednesday’s win at Minute Maid Park clinched their first series victory over Texas since September 2015. Two big innings
Two four-run innings fueled the win, the Astros’ fourth straight overall. They improved to 15-4 against teams in their division, only one of which, the Los Angeles Angels, is better than .500. Their three wins this week are one fewer than they had all of last year against the Rangers, who claimed 15 of 19 meetings last season and 13 of 19 in 2015.
“I just think the performance we put on these three games speaks by itself,” Astros shortstop Carlos Correa said. “We’ve been playing really good baseball, and we have a great team. We’re very confident out there when we go on the field.
“Obviously, we’re going to play a lot more series against them, and obviously, we’ve got to play hard every single day. But I feel very confident with the team we have.”
Correa had his best offensive game of the season behind four hits, including a solo home run and a double. Like Correa, Brian McCann and the hothitting Marwin Gonzalez also went deep off Rangers starter Nick Martinez. Josh Reddick capped the onslaught with a two-run shot in the eighth off ex-Astro Anthony Bass.
Straying from their trend of breaking out in the later innings, the Astros struck early. Correa led off the second inning by lining a Martinez fastball to the opposite field for his third homer of the season. McCann doubled the score with a line drive to the same part of the ballpark just two batters later.
Gonzalez, the hero of Tuesday’s dramatic 8-7 comeback victory, roped a double off the left-field wall and scored on an Alex Bregman single. Nori Aoki drew a walk, and George Springer, the seventh batter of the inning, smacked a single to increase the Astros’ lead to 4-0.
Gonzalez struck again in the sixth, the second of the Astros’ four-run innings. The switch-hitting utility man cleared the centerfield wall with a two-run blast for his fifth homer in five games and team-leading eighth of the season. He’s hitting one every 7.6 at-bats.
After Aoki reached on an error by third baseman Joey Gallo, Springer plated him with a double on which he advanced to third on the throw home. A Reddick sacrifice fly cemented the frame. Win for Morton
The Astros had seven extra-base hits in all. And they struck out only once, the first time that’s happened since Sept. 1, 2010.
“We had tremendous at-bats in the second inning that, as a whole I think, set the tone for a nice night,” manager A.J. Hinch said.
The ample run production eased the burden on the Astros’ pitchers. Charlie Morton struck out eight over six innings, allowing only one run. (Aoki saved him a second with an outfield assist in the fifth.) Despite a pair of two-out walks, Tony Sipp escaped with a scoreless seventh because of a diving catch by Springer in center field. Michael Feliz logged hitless eighth and ninth innings.
“It’s just good to win the series,” said Springer, who according to Hinch will get a day off Thursday. “Obviously, they’ve beaten us pretty good over the last few years, but that’s in the past. To come out today, it was a great win. The staff threw great again today. It’s a good series win for us.”