Astros sweep the two-game series in Mexico

Astros daily report presented by APG&E: 4 hits from the 10-4 win

Chris Campise
May 5, 2019, 6:16 pm
Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images

After an offensive explosion powered them past the Angels in the first game on Saturday, the Astros looked to make it a two-game sweep in Monterrey, Mexico on Sunday afternoon. Here are some quick facts and three takeaways from the game:

Final Score: Astros 10, Angels 4

Record: 20-14, first in the AL West.

Winning pitcher: Justin Verlander (5-1, 2.86 ERA)

Losing pitcher: Matt Harvey (1-3, 6.94 ERA)

1) Verlander allows more homers, still gets the win 

Justin Verlander was not immune to the elevation and climate in Monterrey, giving up a solo home run in the bottom of the first to continue his 2019 trend of a home run in every start. He'd allow another in the bottom of the second, a two-run home run which put the Angels ahead 3-2, then a solo homer in the bottom of the seventh to end his day. He'd leave with a 6-4 lead and was still able to strike out seven during his six and one-third innings of work.

2) Correa extends his hitting streak in another high-offense game

Carlos Correa wasted no time moving his hitting streak to 15 games, putting the Astros up 2-1 in the top of the second inning with a two-run opposite-field home run. That would start the scoring for Houston as they'd go on to score double-digits for the second straight day, with Jose Altuve and Robinson Chirinos both getting RBI-doubles later in the game along with two more RBIs for Michael Brantley on a two-run homer in the top of the ninth to give the Astros some insurance runs.

3) Bregman hits his third homer in Mexico

Fresh off of his two-homer night on Friday, Alex Bregman had another opportunity for a big moment when he came to the plate with the bases loaded in the top of the fifth. As he's done so many times in his early career, he came through, blasting a ball to straight-away center for the grand slam to push the Astros ahead 6-3, a big enough lead to keep them ahead for good.

4) Pressly extends scoreless streak and Osuna closes it out

Ryan Pressly would finish off the seventh for Verlander before extending his scoreless streak to 33 innings, a new franchise record, with a scoreless eighth to set up Roberto Osuna for the ninth. Osuna would take the mound in front of his native crowd and closed out the win with a scoreless inning.

Up Next: The Astros will fly back to Houston tonight and kick off a full week of games at Minute Maid Park tomorrow night against the Royals. First pitch of game one of the three-game set will be at 7:10 PM tomorrow night and will feature Gerrit Cole (2-4, 3.95 ERA) on the mound for Houston going against Jakob Junis (3-2, 5.12 ERA) for Kansas City.

The Astros daily report is presented by APG&E.

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Houston can win series on Sunday

Timely hitting helps Astros edge out D-backs to even series

Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images

The Astros had two losses over the last 24 hours; one a game against the Diamondbacks in the series opener on Friday night, the other the news that their recovering ace, Justin Verlander, announced Saturday afternoon that he is opting to undergo Tommy John surgery. The decision and surgery will likely sideline Verlander through 2021 when his current contract with Houston ends.

With that, the Astros headwinds continued to increase, meaning a win to even the series with Arizona on Saturday would be a much-needed pick-me-up. Here's how they did:

Final Score: Astros 3, Diamondbacks 2.

Record: 26-26, second in the AL West.

Winning pitcher: Enoli Paredes (3-2, 2.84 ERA).

Losing pitcher: Luke Weaver (1-8, 6.51 ERA).

D-backs score two on Javier who is pulled early

Kole Calhoun, who drove in four runs, including a home run in Friday's game, would start the scoring on Saturday with a solo home run off of Cristian Javier in the top of the second, giving Arizona an early 1-0 lead. Javier allowed another run in the top of the third, giving up a leadoff single that would move to third on a groundout then score on a sac fly, doubling the lead to 2-0.

Javier finished the third and tossed a 1-2-3 fourth, but whether it be due to a pre-determined pitch count or other situation, he would not go any further, ending his night there on just 77 pitches. His final line: 4.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, 1 HR, 77 P.

Astros grab a lead in the sixth

The Astros were able to cut the lead in half in the bottom of the third, getting a leadoff single by Josh Reddick, who would move to third after a walk and fielder's choice before scoring on an RBI-groundout by Jose Altuve, making it 2-1. Enoli Paredes was first out of Houston's bullpen, taking over for Javier in the top of the fifth and retiring six straight batters for two perfect frames.

Houston would get to Luke Weaver in the bottom of the sixth, getting a leadoff single by George Springer, who would score from first on an RBI-double by Altuve to tie the game. Altuve would come around as the go-ahead run later in the inning on an RBI-single by Kyle Tucker, knocking Weaver out of the game as the Astros took their first lead of the game, 3-2.

Houston evens the series and moves back up to .500

Josh James was the next reliever for Houston in the top of the seventh, and despite getting into a jam by issuing a one-out walk and hitting the next batter, he was able to get out of it. It was thanks to a great play by Michael Brantley, who started a double play by catching a lineout and throwing a runner out at second to end the inning.

Brooks Raley had the eighth and erased a one-out walk by retiring the next two batters to maintain the one-run lead. After a scoreless bottom of the eighth, the Astros turned to closer Ryan Pressly to get another save and finish the one-run game. Pressly would do so, as Houston would move back up to .500 and even the series 1-1 heading into the rubber game on Sunday.

Up Next: The finale of this series between Houston and Arizona, and Houston's last regular-season home game of 2020, will get underway at 1:10 PM Central on Sunday. Madison Bumgarner (0-4, 8.53) ERA will be on the mound for the D-backs, while Jose Urquidy (1-1, 2.70 ERA) will start for the Astros.

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