Lowrie’s grand slam earns Keuchel a win
Shot in seventh sends Houston on road with Minnesota series win.
Jed Lowrie was hitting .300 at the end of April before spending three months on the disabled list after thumb surgery.
After a tough August in his return from the injury Lowrie is starting to heat up, and on Sunday his grand slam in Houston’s fifive -run seventh inning helped the Astros rally for a 8-5 victory over the Min- nesota Twins.
The Astros trailed by one when Lowrie hit his second career grand slam, and his fifirst since 2009, into the second row in right fifield offff Trevor May (8-9) to make it 5-2.
“It just felt like a lot of pentup emotion,” Lowrie said.
“That game, nothing was really happening, we were not hitting the ball very hard and we got the opportunity I think everybody took a big sigh of relief and had a lot of fun.”
May dropped his head when Lowrie connected and shook it as Lowrie bounded around the bases and into a celebration at home plate.
“In short, I blew it,” May said. “I’m looking forward to another chance to get out there.”
Lowrie hit just .181 in August and was in a 0-for28 slump before starting a season-high six-game hitting streak where he has three homers, four doubles and seven RBIs.
“I feel like I’ve been hitting the ball well since coming back, and even in that slump I was hitting the ball hard and just couldn’t get any luck,” Lowrie said. “It’s nice to get rewarded when you hit the ball eventually.”
Dallas Keuchel (17-6) became the American League’s first 17-game winner, improved to 13-0 at home this season and set a franchise record with his 14th straight win in Houston dating back to last season. He allowed five hits, three runs and struck out 12 in eight innings.
But Keuchel wasn’t celebrating the victory. Instead he was lamenting the season-high three homers he allowed.
“Because I don’t want to give up home runs,” he said. “I don’t want to give up runs period. So I think if anybody’s satisfied with giving up runs, they’re not taking their job very seriously.”
The bullpen collapse ruined a solid start for Twins starter Tyler Duffey, who was born in Houston and went to Rice. He yielded six hits and two runs with eight strikeouts in 62/3 innings.
Brian Dozier, Eduardo Escobar and Aaron Hicks each hit a solo home run for the Twins, who have dropped three of four.
Jake Marisnick padded Houston’s lead with a three-run shot in the eighth inning.
The Twins added two runs in the ninth off Chad Qualls before Luke Gregerson got the final out for his 26th save.
The victory salvaged a series win for the AL West-leading Astros.
Monday’s game: Mike Fiers (7-9, 3.54) faces Felix Doubront (2-1, 1.99) when the Astros visit Oakland for the start of a three-game series and a 10-game road trip. Fiers, who threw a no-hitter on Aug. 21, is 2-0 with a 0.67 ERA and 24 strikeouts in four starts since a trade from Milwaukee.