ASTROS: ALVAREZ, CORREA HOMER TO PACE WIN.
After myriad IL stints, nearly all regular starters get hits in another win over in-state foe
ARLINGTON — On a warm Texas night in late August, the Astros were whole again.
Saturday was the first time the Astros had their top seven hitters — Jose Altuve, Michael Brantley, Yuli Gurriel, Yordan Alvarez, Carlos Correa, Alex Bregman and Kyle Tucker — together in the lineup since June 13.
On that day, the Astros collected 20 hits and scored two dozen runs in a 14-3 win against the Twins.
Although Saturday was not a replicate mammoth performance, every Astros starter except one got a hit to beat the Rangers 5-2 for the second consecutive night at Globe Life Field.
Alvarez crushed his 27th home run of the season, tying his career high from 2019. Correa went deep for his 20th homer. Altuve went 1-for-3 with an RBI and two walks.
At the bottom of the order, Jake Meyers and Tucker combined to go 4-for-8 while Martín Maldonado had his eighth multi-RBI game of the season.
Bregman was the lone starter without a hit, but he walked and scored a run in his third game back from the injured list.
Houston finished a dismal 3-for-13 with runners in scoring position and left nine men on base but used 11 hits to secure the series victory behind starting pitcher Framber Valdez. The lefty and his formidable curveball struck out seven batters over seven innings on 85 pitches. Valdez allowed three hits, two earned runs, one home run and one walk.
In contrast, Texas starter Kolby Allard went six innings and yielded eight hits, five earned runs, two home runs, three walks, two strikeouts and one hit batter.
Both starting pitchers threw nine pitches through a hitless first inning before the Astros used four hits and two walks to score three runs against Allard in the second inning. Alvarez led off with a solo home run, hammering a 1-1 pitch just over the center-field wall. Rangers outfielder Leody Taveras jumped but could not make the play. It was Alvarez’s fifth home run in his last eight games.
Bregman and Kyle Tucker got on base via a walk and a single. They both scored with two outs as Maldonado knocked a hard-hit ground ball into left field for a two-RBI single. Altuve walked and Michael Brantley singled to load the bases against the Rangers for the second time in as many nights, but Yuli Gurriel flied out to end the frame.
The Astros added another home run with one out in the third inning, a firstpitch bomb by Correa that took the prize for hardesthit and farthest-hit ball of the game (111.3 mph exit velocity and 436 feet to left field).
As his offense provided four runs of support, Valdez struck out four batters through three innings. Every third strike was a curveball.
Leading off the bottom of the fourth inning, Isiah Kiner-Falefa made it to third base on an infield ground ball after Gurriel missed Valdez’s throw to first base, but umpires determined Kiner-Falefa had stepped off the base path and called him out in a lucky break for the Astros. Valdez squandered that break by loading the bases with a single, a hit-by-pitch and a walk.
The Astros nearly turned a 4-6-3 double play on Nick Solak’s ground ball, but Correa’s throw to Gurriel wasn’t in time, allowing a run to score. Valdez secured the final out to prevent further damage, though the shutout was spoiled.
The Astros padded their lead in the top of the sixth inning. Tucker dropped a fly ball onto the warning track, and it bounced into the bullpen for a leadoff ground-rule double. After Meyers struck out, Maldonado’s groundout moved Tucker to third base. Altuve brought him home with a two-out RBI infield single, hustling down the line as Texas first baseman Andy Ibanez went into a full split but couldn’t make the play. Ibanez left the game an inning later because of a strained hamstring. Allard easily picked off Altuve at first to end the frame.
Adolis Garcia got one run back for the Rangers in the bottom of the inning when he homered into the rightfield stands to make the score 5-2. From there, Valdez retired five consecutive batters before Astros manager Dusty Baker handed the ball to Kendall Graveman to begin the eighth inning.
Graveman put two men on with one out after he allowed a single, a stolen base and a four-pitch walk. After a mound visit, Graveman settled down and required just seven more pitches to force a popout and brokenbat lineout, ending the inning.
For the second night in a row, Ryan Pressly was tasked with closing out the game for Houston. The AllStar reliever got a strikeout before surrendering a oneout double. Pressly struck out the next batter, but a threat still loomed on second base as Yohel Pozo stepped up to the plate. It was Bregman, the only Astros batter without a hit, who fielded a ground ball and whipped a throw across the diamond to close the book on the victory.