Astros win fifth straight game in Greinke's debut

Astros daily report presented by APG&E: 3 hits from the 11-6 win

Astros daily report presented by APG&E: 3 hits from the 11-6 win
Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images

After a week of waiting, Tuesday night was finally the night Houston had been looking forward to since last Wednesday: Zack Greinke's first start in an Astros uniform. He was going up against a familiar foe in the Colorado Rockies. Here is a quick rundown of the first matchup of the quick two-game series:

Final Score: Astros 11, Rockies 6.

Record: 74-40, first in the AL West.

Winning pitcher: Zack Greinke (11-4, 3.08 ERA).

Losing pitcher: Chi Chi Gonzalez (0-4, 5.95 ERA).

1) Not the best start for Greinke, but still a win

Zack Greinke had an efficient first three innings in his new uniform, allowing just two hits over that span, but erasing both to keep the Rockies off the board. He faced his first real test in the fourth, allowing a leadoff single then a walk to put runners on first and second. A wild pitch advanced both runners, setting up a sac fly for the Rockies followed by an RBI-double to trim Houston's lead to 3-2.

Greinke made it out of that inning but would face another high-leverage situation in the top of the fifth after a leadoff double then error put two runners on yet again. He would get out of the jam, though, with a flyout and double play to end the inning.

Greinke would have an unfortunate sixth inning, however. He allowed a leadoff infield single, then a one-out walk, putting two on base for a two-out three-run game-tying home run by Colorado to make it 5-5. He would get through the sixth, but it still ended his night on a sour note. His final line: 6 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 2 BB, 2 K.

2) Alvarez provides some quick run support for his new pitcher

After going down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the first, Alex Bregman got the first hit of the night with a leadoff double to start the bottom of the second. That brought up Yordan Alvarez, who demolished a ball 436 feet for his fourteenth home run of the year to put Houston ahead 2-0 early.

They would extend the lead further in the bottom of the third, getting an RBI-single by Michael Brantley to make it 3-0. After the Rockies trimmed the lead to one run in the top of the fourth, Yuli Gurriel put it back to two with a two-out solo home run, making it 4-2. In the bottom of the fifth, George Springer hit a one-out single, moved to third on a single by Jose Altuve, then scored on an RBI-groundout by Michael Brantley, extending the lead to 5-2.

After Colorado tied the game in the top of the sixth, Carlos Correa put Houston right back in front with a solo home run to lead off the bottom of the inning. George Springer would tack on another later in the inning, getting a one-out RBI-single to extend the lead to 7-5.

3) Tacking on some insurance

Chris Devenski was the first reliever out of Houston's bullpen, taking the mound for the top of the seventh. He would snap his three-game streak of scoreless innings, allowing a one-out solo home run to Charlie Blackmon to cut the lead to one run at 7-6 before getting through the inning.

Carlos Correa would strike again in the bottom of the seventh to add on more runs. After a leadoff single by Michael Brantley and walk by Alex Bregman, Correa would drive both in on a two-RBI double. Yuli Gurriel was up next and launched his second home run of the night to further pad the lead at 11-6.

Hector Rondon took over on the mound in the top of the eighth and retired the Rockies in order. Collin McHugh wrapped things up by working around a couple of walks for a scoreless ninth, giving Houston their fifth straight win.

Up Next: These two teams will wrap up this entire two-game series in under 24 hours with the finale tomorrow at 1:10 PM. The expected pitching matchup is Peter Lambert (2-2, 5.71 ERA) on the mound for Colorado while Houston will send out Gerrit Cole (13-5, 2.87 ERA) who will be looking to continue his hot streak and add to his league-leading number of strikeouts.

The Astros daily report is presented by APG&E.

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Rockets defeat the Pistons, 101-99. Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images.

Alperen Sengun scored five of his 27 points in the final 2:28 to lead the Houston Rockets to a 101-99 victory over the Detroit Pistons on Sunday.

Trailing 101-99 with six seconds left, Pistons' guard Cade Cunningham intentionally missed a free throw and Jaden Ivey got the offensive rebound. His shot missed, but Tobias Harris was fouled on the rebound.

With a chance to tie the game with one second to go, Harris missed the first free throw. He intentionally missed the second, but Ivey fell out of bounds trying to secure the rebound.

Sengun added 10 rebounds, and Tari Eason scored 10 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter.

Cunningham had 26 points, nine assists and eight rebounds, falling just short of becoming the first Pistons player to record four straight triple-doubles.

Sengun's putback gave the Rockets a 96-95 lead with 2:28 to play, and Jaden Ivey was called for an offensive foul on the next possession. Houston got another putback, this one a dunk from Dillon Brooks, before Sengun scored Houston's third straight basket off an offensive rebound to make it 100-95.

Takeaways

Rockets: Houston was able to stay in the game in the first half despite shooting 18.8% (3 of 16) on 3-pointers by recording nine offensive rebounds.

Pistons: Cunningham had 14 first-half points on 5-of-10 shooting, but his teammates only managed 31 on 36.3% (12 of 33) from the floor.

Key moment

The Rockets led 84-72 with nine minutes left, but Malik Beasley hit three 3-pointers in a 16-3 run that put Detroit up 88-87 with 5:16 left.

Key stat

Houston forced seven third-quarter turnovers that led to eight points and held the Pistons to 36.8% shooting. Detroit missed all five 3-point attempts, including three by Tim Hardaway Jr.

Up next

The Rockets host the Wizards on Monday, while the Pistons host the Heat on Tuesday.

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