Altuve’s homers lead Astros past Giants

SAN FRANCISCO — Before the Giants even stepped on the diamond at Oracle Park on Friday, they had already taken a significant step toward winning the National League West.

With a last-minute deal ahead of Friday’s trade deadline to bring All-Star slugger Kris Bryant to San Francisco, Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi rewarded his first place club with the addition of a key right-handed bat who can play all over the diamond.

Bryant, however, isn’t expected to arrive until Saturday and the rest of his teammates slogged through a long 9-6 loss to the Houston Astros that featured far too many mistakes.

Starter Kevin Gausman had his third consecutive rough outing while Astros second baseman Jose Altuve launched a pair of home run including a sixth-inning grand slam that helped Houston break the game open.

After Altuve’s grand slam off Giants reliever Jay Jackson pushed the Astros ahead by five, the Giants rallied for a run in the sixth and two more in the seventh, but new Houston reliever Kendall Graveman helped quiet San Francisco’s bats with a four-out hold.

The decisive hit from Friday’s game was set up by an error from first baseman Darin Ruf and a walk from left-handed reliever Sammy Long which helped Houston load the bases for Altuve, who crushed the Giants with a threehit performance in the series opener.

Gausman’s post All-Star break struggles continued against Houston as he needed 43 pitches to complete a marathon first inning. The Giants starter had twostrike counts against all eight Astros hitters that came to the plate in the first, but gave up three consecutive singles to begin his outing and walked in another run with a non-competitive 3-2 pitch to center fielder Kyle Tucker.

The night could have been much worse for Gausman, but he rebounded with three efficient innings before Altuve launched his first home run of the game against the right-hander in the fifth.