McCann, Gurriel go deep; club mark would be matched with win tonight
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The historical significance of the Astros’ incredible first two months of the season increases daily.
With their 11th consecutive win Monday night, 7-3 over the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium, the Astros became the first team to win 42 of their first 58 games since the 2001 Seattle Mariners. Their record is a win ahead of the pace of the 2016 Chicago Cubs, the reigning World Series champs who won 103 regular-season games.
Now owners of the longest winning streak in the majors this season, the Astros are on the verge of club history. A win Tuesday would match the franchise’s longest winning streak of 12 games, set twice: in 1999 (Sept. 3-14) and 2004 (Aug. 27-Sept. 9).
During their winning
streak, the Astros have outscored opponents 8939. Brian McCann and Yuli Gurriel each homered Monday and combined to drive in five runs out of the seventh and eighth spots in the lineup. Four relievers combined to allow only three hits and one run over the final four innings.
The result pushed the Astros’ runaway lead in the American League West to 14 games, the biggest divisional edge in club history. They are 26 games above .500 for the first time since Oct. 1, 2000, when they were 91-65.
“It just feels like we’ve been on point since day one,” McCann said. “All phases of the game are clicking. We’ve got some really, really good players in here, some MVP-type players that are carrying us, and the bottom of the order is doing their damage as well.”
The Astros, who haven’t lost on the road since Mother’s Day, also set a club record for consecutive road wins at 11. At 22-6 in road games, they’ve won more away from Minute Maid Park this season than the major league-worst Philadelphia Phillies (20-35) have won regardless of venue.
Six of the Astros’ 10 hits Monday went for extra bases. Gurriel broke open a close game with a threerun homer off Kelvin Herrera in the eighth inning. McCann gave the Astros an early 4-0 lead with a two-run blast off starter Ian Kennedy in the fourth.
The Astros took advantage of a struggling Kennedy, who needed 96 pitches to complete five innings. Nori Aoki opened the scoring with a single that plated McCann, who had driven a one-out double the other way and off the base of the wall in left-center field.
George Springer, selected earlier Monday as the American League’s Player of the Week, shot a twoout single up the middle to double the Astros’ lead through two innings. McCann increased the margin to 4-0 with a 419-foot, tworun bomb to right-center field in the fourth.
“There’s no real break in their lineup at all,” said Kennedy (0-6). “And it’s just like, if you get 2-0, you’d rather try to pitch to the next guy.”
The Royals got two runs back in the bottom of the fourth off Mike Fiers. Eric Hosmer doubled and scored on a bloop double down the left-field line by Brandon Moss. A wellexecuted, two-out bunt single by Alcides Escobar scored Mike Moustakas from third base.
Fiers (3-2) allowed only the two runs through five innings but was pulled before recording an out in the sixth. An errant throw by third baseman Marwin Gonzalez gifted the Royals runners on the corners instead of a runner on first and one out. Astros manager A.J. Hinch summoned rookie lefthander Reymin Guduan to face the lefthanded-hitting Moustakas and Moss.
Guduan, in only his second major league appearance, induced a lineout to Gonzalez from Moustakas and struck out Moss looking at a 95 mph fastball. James Hoyt finished the inning off by striking out Alcides Escobar.
Hoyt returned for the seventh and allowed a solo homer to Jorge Bonifacio that cut the Astros’ lead to a run. Will Harris again proved himself ultra reliable with a scoreless eighth, affording the offense one last chance to tack on insurance runs.
Alex Bregman opened the ninth with a single, and a fielding error by Escobar on a would-be double play ball against McCann gave the Astros runners on first and second with no outs. Gurriel followed with his homer on an 0-1 slider, his second in as many days and sixth on the season.
Bregman was an eighthinning replacement for Gonzalez, who was lifted because of left hand discomfort. The cause of Gonzalez’s injury was unclear, but it might have occurred in the sixth, when he slid into second base on a double and slid into third when caught stealing to end the inning.