Houston takes the opener against Oakland
Alvarez's homers help lift Astros out of early hole against A's
Jul 6, 2021, 10:27 pm
Yordan Alvarez's two homers were huge in Tuesday's series opener against Oakland. Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images.
Yordan Alvarez's two homers were huge in Tuesday's series opener against Oakland.
After finishing their recent grueling stretch of twenty games in twenty days with a four-game sweep of the Indians in Cleveland, the Astros returned home for the final six games before the All-Star break. First up was a three-game set against the A's, and despite Oakland building up a significant early lead, Houston would roar back into it and get the victory in the opener.
Final Score: Astros 9, A's 6
Astros' Record: 53-33, first in the AL West
Winning Pitcher: Bryan Abreu (3-3)
Losing Pitcher: J.B. Wendelken (1-1)
Oakland comes out swinging against Valdez
Things looked dreary for Framber Valdez and the Astros from the get-go. Oakland came out swinging, literally, turning the first two pitches around for back-to-back hits to threaten early. That turned into a three-run inning as they'd get five hits in total and send seven batters to the plate.
Valdez didn't fare any better in the second, once again giving up a three-run frame, this time on three hits, giving the A's six runs and eight hits, both season highs for Houston's starter, in just the first two innings. He would rebound to get a few more innings, erasing a single in the third, a walk in the fourth, and one of each in the fifth. His final line: 5.0 IP, 10 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, 0 HR, 93 P.
Houston roars back into it on Alvarez's power
Luckily for Valdez, he'd get off the hook thanks to his offense bailing him out with some big hits of their own. After Oakland's three-run first, Yordan Alvarez shifted momentum temporarily back Houston's way with a two-run homer to make it 3-2. After Oakland pushed the lead back to four runs in the second, Houston clawed one run back on a two-out RBI single by Myles Straw.
Built different.#ForTheH pic.twitter.com/vBfUazNilP
— Houston Astros (@astros) July 7, 2021
Then, in the bottom of the fifth, the Astros put two of their first three batters of the inning on base, setting up another Alvarez homer, this one a three-run game-tying blast to make it a brand new ballgame and getting Valdez out of losing position. After a scoreless top half of the inning by Bryan Abreu, Houston grabbed their first lead of the game in the bottom of the sixth on a two-RBI single by Jose Altuve, making it 8-6. They didn't stop there, with Yuli Gurriel adding another on an RBI groundout.
Astros take the opener
Abreu remained in the game on the mound for Houston in the top of the seventh and erased a leadoff double by retiring the next three A's in order. Ryne Stanek was next out of Houston's bullpen as the setup man in the top of the eighth and did his job with a 1-2-3 frame to keep it a three-run game. Still 9-6 in the top of the ninth, closer Ryan Pressly entered and earned another save by finishing off the win for Houston, their fifth in a row.
Up Next: The middle game of this series will be another 7:10 PM Central start time on Wednesday. Sean Manaea (6-5, 3.13 ERA) will be on the mound for Oakland, going up against Luis Garcia (6-5, 3.14 ERA) for Houston.
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Marcell Ozuna hit his major league-leading eighth homer and Orlando Arcia’s RBI single in the 10th inning lifted the Atlanta Braves to a 5-4 win over the Houston Astros on Wednesday.
It completes a three-game sweep of the struggling Astros and is Atlanta’s fourth straight victory.
The Braves scored two runs in the eighth inning to tie it at 4-4. Michael Harris II started the 10th as the automatic runner on second and there was one out in the inning when Seth Martinez (1-1) intentionally walked Matt Olson.
Ozuna lined out to right field to send Harris to third base. Arcia then singled on a ground ball to left field to score Harris and put the Braves on top.
Pinch-runner Jake Meyers was on second when Kyle Tucker walked with no outs in the 10th. Meyers moved to third on a fly out by Yainer Diaz but Jeremy Peña grounded into a double play to end it.
A.J. Minter (3-1) got the last two outs of the ninth for the win and Raisel Iglesias earned his fifth save.
Reigning NL MVP Ronald Acuña Jr. added his first homer of the season to help the Braves to the victory. Ozuna also leads the majors with 23 RBIs and he extended his hitting streak to 16 games, which ties his career best and is the longest active streak in the majors.
Yordan Alvarez and Mauricio Dubón both homered for the Astros, who fell to 6-14 and are last in the AL West.
There was one out in the first when Alvarez connected on his homer to the seats in left field to put Houston up 1-0.
Ozuna opened the second with his 432-foot shot to left field, which bounced off the wall and tied the game.
Acuña put the Braves up 2-1 when he sent the first pitch of the fifth inning to straightaway center field.
The Astros tied it on an RBI single by Alex Bregman in the fifth and Kyle Tucker’s RBI double came next to put the Astros up 3-2.
Dubón hit his first home run of the year off Jesse Chavez to start Houston’s sixth and push the lead to 4-2.
Harris singled to start the seventh before a ground-rule double by Austin Riley. Olson reached, and Harris scored on a fielding error by first baseman José Abreu when he couldn’t grab a routine ground ball.
There was one out in the inning when Riley scored on a sacrifice fly by Arcia to tie it at 4-all.
Houston starter J.P. France allowed four hits and two runs in five innings.
Max Fried gave up seven hits and three runs in five innings.
UP NEXT
Braves: Atlanta is off Thursday before opening a series against Texas on Friday night with LHP Chris Sale (1-1, 4.58 ERA) on the mound.
Astros: Houston is also off Thursday before ace Justin Verlander will make his season debut Friday night against Washington. The three-time Cy Young Award winner opened the season on the injured list with inflammation in his right shoulder.