The Rockies beat the Astros, 7-6. Photo by David Berding/Getty Images.
Thairo Estrada hit a two-run homer in the first inning and drove in four runs to help the Colorado Rockies beat the Houston Astros 7-6 on Thursday.
Colorado improved to 9-34 at home, still the worst home start in the modern era. The Rockies have lost all 14 series at Coors Field.
Juan Mejia (1-0) got the win in relief of Kyle Freeland, who threw six solid innings, and Seth Halvorsen picked up his seventh save. Halvorsen gave up a leadoff triple to Jake Meyers and a pair of two-out singles before getting Victor Caratini on a flyout to right to end it.
Houston tied it at 5 in seventh on Cam Smith's two-run triple, and Colorado got it right back in the bottom of inning. After Tyler Freeman was thrown out at home trying to score from first on Mickey Moniak’s double, Jordan Beck singled to make it 6-5, stole second and scored on Estrada’s two-out single off reliever Jordan Weems (0-1).
Houston scored twice in the first inning, and Estrada tied with his homer it in the bottom of the inning. Isaac Paredes had an RBI double for Houston in the second, and Estrada tied it in the third with an RBU groundout. Ryan Ritter’s two-run single in the fourth gave Colorado the lead.
Brandon Walter gave up five runs over five innings of work for Houston.
Key moment
With two runners on and two outs in the eighth for the Astros, Halvorsen got Paredes to pop out to catcher Aaron Nola to preserve the two-run lead.
Key stats
Freeman singled in the first to extend his on-base streak to 18 games. He also singled in the seventh.
Up next
Astros RHP Lance McCullers Jr. (1-3, 6.61 ERA) will open a three-game series at the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday night. Colorado continues its homestand with RHP Antonio Senzatela (3-11, 6.69) on the mound against the Chicago White Sox on Friday night.
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Houston Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez’s setback to his recovery from a fractured right hand is not as serious as first feared, general manager Dana Brown said Thursday.
Alvarez, who suffered the injury on May 2, was shut down after experiencing pain in his right hand. He had taken some swings at the team’s spring training complex in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Monday and when he arrived there on Tuesday the area was sore.
He was examined by a specialist, who determined inflammation was the issue and not a setback with the fracture.
“It had nothing to do with the fracture, or the fracture not being healed,” Brown said before Houston’s game at Colorado. “The fracture at this point is a non-factor, which we’re very glad about. And so during the process of him being examined by the specialist, we saw the inflammation, and Yordan did receive two shots in that area.”
Alvarez first experienced issues with his hand in late April but stayed in the lineup. He was initially diagnosed with a muscle strain but a small fracture was discovered at the end of May.
Brown said there has not been an update on the timetable for Alvarez’s return but said with the latest update it “could be in the near future.”
“Yordan is going to be in a position where he’s going to let rest and let the shot take effect, and then as long as he’s starting to feel better, we’ll put a bat in his hand before we start hitting, but we’ll just let him feel the bat feels like,” Brown said. “And then we’ll get into some swings in the near future, but I felt like it was encouraging news. Now, with this injection into the area that was inflamed, we feel a lot better.”
Alvarez, who averaged 34 home runs over the previous four seasons, has just three in 29 games this year and is batting .210. He was the 2021 ALCS MVP for the Astros and finished third in the AL MVP voting for 2022.