Altuve’s homer ignites five-run rally in ninth after Cain’s triple in seventh foils McCullers
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Jose Altuve launched a go-ahead home run in the ninth inning and the Astros defeated the Kansas City Royals 6-1 on Thursday night at Kauffman Stadium to cap an 8-2 road trip.
Altuve highlighted a five-run ninth with a two-run blast to left-center field off Royals closer Kelvin Herrera. Lance McCullers Jr. took a no-decision despite pitching as dominantly as he has all season.
McCullers allowed one run and two hits over seven innings. The 23-year-old righthander had a no-hitter through 61⁄3 innings before Lorenzo Cain belted a triple to left-center field in the seventh inning.
McCullers was aware he hadn’t allowed a hit when he took the mound in the seventh.
“You know as a pitcher,” he said. “I know a lot of people say, ‘Oh, the jinx,’ or whatnot. You
know.
“If you don’t give up a hit from the very first guy, you’re like, ‘I’ve got a nohitter going right now.’ It stays that way the whole game.”
When Cain stepped to the plate, McCullers had faced only one more batter than the minimum. Two walks were his only blemishes.
Yet quickly, the tenor of the evening changed. Two batters after Cain tripled on a 3-0 fastball, Mike Moustakas ripped a changeup for a two-out single past a diving Altuve to tie the game at 1.
McCullers finished the inning at 91 pitches. Will Harris took over in the eighth.
“I feel like he’s got no-hit stuff every time he takes the mound,” catcher Brian McCann said of McCullers. “He’s that kind of pitcher. He’s a dominant pitcher, and he’s got dominant stuff.”
McCullers had all three of his pitches working in his outing. The reigning American League pitcher of the month struck out eight, seven on his power curveball and one on an inside fastball.
He recorded 10 ground outs as opposed to one fly out after entering the game with a 61.7 ground-ball rate that ranked second in the majors to teammate Dallas Keuchel (67.4).
McCullers’ performance amounted to one-half of a pitchers’ duel, as Royals righthander Jason Hammel shut down a potent offense. Hammel held the Astros scoreless through five innings and allowed only one run over seven efficient innings.
The run the Astros scored off Hammel came on a sixth-inning balk with runners on first and third base. They managed only four runners against him.
But after striking out in order against Joakim Soria in the eighth, the Astros sent 10 batters to the plate in the ninth.
Josh Reddick drew a leadoff walk against Herrera. Two pitches later, he crossed home plate as the go-ahead run on Altuve’s 430-foot shot.
“An explosive ninth inning for us,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. “We’ve seen that out of our group. It starts with a leadoff walk, which probably won’t get talked about a ton, but Reddick sets the tone. And Jose hunted a heater after a lot of balls from Herrera.”
Carlos Correa followed Altuve’s homer with his first triple of the season on a line drive misplayed by Cain in center field. Brian McCann plated Correa on a sacrifice fly, and Evan Gattis chased Herrera from the game with a single. Facing Peter Moylan with the bases loaded, Jake Marisnick dumped a two-run single into right-center field to extend the lead to five.