ASTROS CLOSE OUT FIRST HALF IN STYLE WITH 19-1 WIN
ALL-OUT ASSAULT: 18-RUN VICTORY MARGIN SETS FRANCHISE RECORD EXCLAMATION POINT: AL POWERHOUSE CLOSES FIRST HALF WITH 60TH WIN
TORONTO — It can happen quickly when playing against the Astros. A team looks comfortable. Its pitcher is in rhythm. It has two outs.
Then in a hurry, the Astros’ lineup interrupts a sunny afternoon with heavy rainfall.
On Sunday, the Astros stormed the Blue Jays with a twoout, five-run blitz in the second inning.
The Jays had, in theory, eight more chances to climb back. But the Astros surged for 14 more runs to overwhelm Toronto 19-1, putting an emphatic final stamp on a monumental first half of the season.
The Astros’ 18-run margin of victory set a franchise record, surpassing the 17-run difference in an 18-1 win over the Cardinals on Sept. 20, 2007.
“That was incredible,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “We never stopped.”
The 18 runs were a season high for the majors’ most potent offense, topping the 17 mounted against the Twins on May 30.
Amid a flood of 17 hits, Carlos Correa went 4-for-5 with two home runs and five RBIs. Jose Altuve, after a day off Saturday, had three hits for the fifth consecutive game, raising his major leaguebest batting average to .347. He scored three times and drove in three runs.
The Astros head into the AllStar break with 60 wins (against 29 losses), making them one of five teams to do so in the last 40 years (including this season’s Dodgers, who are 61-29 and the 2003 Braves, 2001 Mariners and 1998 Yankees). Their run dif-
ferential of 180 leads the American League by a whopping margin, with the Yankees second at 96.
6 zeros from Peacock
The offensive outpouring could have compensated for poor pitching, but Brad Peacock (7-1) pushed through six innings as if he could have blown the lead on one bad offering. He struggled throwing low strikes on the outer edge and lost a feel for his curveball, but he undid his own jams in the fourth and sixth innings by inducing pop flies.
“Unreal,” he said of his poor command. “I can’t explain it. Sometimes it just happens. I lost it.”
Despite giving up five walks and facing 27 batters, Peacock kept the Blue Jays off the board to underscore the lopsided game.
“This is a tough lineup, and he shut them down,” Correa said. “He had a comfortable lead, and usually pitchers start getting sloppy and throwing pitches in the middle. He stayed composed.”
The Astros have averaged 8.33 runs per game in Peacock’s nine starts.
Yulieski Gurriel struck first in the second with his 11th home run. He lined the ball at such a low trajectory he broke out of the box thinking it would not clear the wall.
The other blasts were not in question.
With two outs, Alex Bregman scored from second and George Springer reached first on a smash that third baseman Josh Donaldson fielded well before overthrowing the bag.
Altuve followed with his 13th home run. He connected on a first-pitch changeup off J.A. Happ (36) and stepped out of the box slowly to admire the ball’s flight to right field.
Correa put the Astros ahead 5-0 with his 19th home run. He adjusted to a low slider by bending his knee more than usual to square it up for a no-doubter. The ball catapulted off his bat at 107 mph and a 24-degree angle. Left fielder Steve Pearce did not take a step. He craned his neck to watch the ball hammer against the façade of the second deck.
“Nobody in the league is a better offensive team than we are,” said Gurriel, who was used to being the best player on most of his past teams in Cuba. “To have three or four superstars, it takes a lot of pressure of me.”
In the fourth, Correa drove in Bregman for a 6-0 lead, slashing a ground ball the other way. Second baseman Ryan Goins smothered it with a dive but did not have a shot to get a sprinting Correa.
Happ, who pitched four innings, was charged with only two earned runs because of Donaldson’s error.
Gattis goes yard
With the Rogers Centre roof peeled back, outfielders had to fight the sun in the third inning. By the sixth, an overcast sky darkened the field, and the Astros went ahead 9-0.
Springer and Altuve singled before Evan Gattis hit his eighth home run, besting Correa with his powerful rip. Not many home runs in the majors have cleared the wall in less than 4 seconds. Gattis turned on a high-andinside fastball that went 403 feet in 3.9 seconds at 109 mph.
The Astros had lost Thursday and Saturday. Hinch initially wanted to give Springer Sunday off, but the threat of the Astros losing their second road series of the year motivated the manager to start his best hitters the day before
the All-Star break.
Hinch got to rest Springer when the Astros batted around in the seventh inning.
Pouring it on
Jake Marisnick, Nori Aoki — substituted in for Springer — and Altuve drove in three runs on three hits to make it 12-0.
Correa, who hiked his batting average to .325, made it 15-0 with his 20th homer, a three-run shot that traveled 411 feet to center field.
It was the eighth time this season the Astros scored six runs in an in- ning. They hushed the crowd during their onslaught. Gattis inspired brief cheers when he grounded to short for the first out.
Marwin Gonzalez was left out of the action — until the ninth. After Gattis hit an RBI double, Gonzalez singled, and Correa scored on an errant throw from short. Gonzalez scored on a wild pitch for the Astros’ final run.
For the second time in three days, Francis Martes came in to pitch the ninth and surrendered a homer.
Blue Jays fans erupted with pent-up excitement when Ezequiel Carrera went deep. Their reaction was a touch exaggerated but appropriate given the absurd production they stuck around to watch.