Astros rookie White hot again
AL WEST: DH busts out of slump as Houston survives another Cano homer in 5-1 win
HOUSTON — Rookie Tyler White hit five home runs in his first 15 games before falling into a slump he’s just starting to break out of, collecting two hits in each of the past two games.
Houston manager A.J. Hinch thinks his early home run success may have actually hurt him in the last few weeks.
“He hit those home runs early in his career and it might have derailed him a little bit getting the ball airborne just a touch too much,” Hinch said. “Now a couple line-drive base hits and some balls low that have got him back in the strike zone, lowered his eyesight a little bit in the strike zone to do some damage.”
White hit two doubles and drove in a run to back up seven solid innings by Collin McHugh Sunday as the Astros got a 5-1 victory over the Seattle Mariners.
White, who snapped an 0-for-16 skid Thursday, hadn’t had more than one hit in a game since April 11 until Saturday. He put Houston up 1-0 Sunday with his double in the second inning and added a double in the fourth.
“I worked hard to try to get back,” White said. “I hadn’t had a bad stretch like that in a while. So mentally it was tough on me and physically as well there were a couple of thing off.”
The Astros added two runs in the third and tacked on two more in the seventh as McHugh (4-3) allowed five hits and one run.
“Collin was as in control of this game as any of our starting pitchers have been this entire season,” Hinch said.
Jose Altuve had two hits and tied a career-high with three stolen bases on a day the Astros finished with five. Robinson Cano continued his tear against the Astros with a solo homer in the fourth that gave him five homers and 17 RBIs in seven games against Houston this season.
Aside from Cano’s homer, the Mariners didn’t do much on offence with the rest of the team combining for four hits.
“McHugh kept us off-balance most of the game, did a good job,” Seattle manager Scott Servais said.
Cano is tied for the major-league lead with 12 homers, while his 33 RBIs leads the majors outright.
Seattle starter Hisashi Iwakuma (1-4) yielded seven hits and three runs with eight strikeouts in five innings. Luis Valbuena doubled with two outs in the second and scored on a ground rule double by White to make it 1-0.
Altuve singled with one out in the third before stealing both second and third base before Carlos Correa drew a walk with two outs. Correa stole second base before a bunt single by Colby Rasmus scored Altuve to push the lead to 2-0.
A single by Marwin Gonzalez, who finished with two hits, sent another run home before Valbuena struck out to end the inning.
McHugh had retired nine of his first 11 batters when Cano launched one into the seats in left field to start the fourth and cut the lead to 3-1.
Houston extended its lead to 4-1 when Springer reached on an error by shortstop Ketel Marte that allowed Altuve to score. Springer stole second and scored on a single by Correa to make it 5-1.
“He hit those home runs early in his career and it might have derailed him a little bit getting the ball airborne ...” — A.J. Hinch