Houston gets back in the win column
Altuve's slam helps push Astros out of losing skid in win over Indians
Jul 1, 2021, 9:39 pm
Jose Altuve came through with a grand slam Thursday to push Astros over Indians. Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images
Jose Altuve came through with a grand slam Thursday to push Astros over Indians.
After a disappointing fourth loss in a row on Wednesday at home to finish the sweep by the very beatable Orioles, the Astros picked up a four-game series and road trip in Cleveland on Thursday in need of a win to keep pace and maintain a now thin division lead. Thanks to a great start by Framber Valdez and a timely grand slam by Jose Altuve, they would get the victory.
Final Score: Astros 7, Indians 2
Astros' Record: 49-33, first in the AL West
Winning Pitcher: Framber Valdez (5-1)
Losing Pitcher: J.C. Mejia (1-3)
Cleveland strikes first, but Valdez battles through seven
After a quick bottom of the first for Framber Valdez, it looked like his night might unravel in the second. He faced seven batters that frame, with a run scoring on a wild pitch after a leadoff walk and single put runners on the corners. Cleveland went on to load the bases with one out, but Valdez escaped to limit the damage to one run.
The Indians doubled their new lead in the next inning, getting back-to-back one-out doubles to make it 2-0. After that, he would cruise the rest of the way, erasing a couple of walks and a hit over the next four frames to leave with a quality start and ultimately a win. His final line: 7.0 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 5 BB, 6 K, 107 P.
Altuve's slam turns the tide
Houston began battling back from the 2-0 hole in the top of the fourth, getting a solo blast from Yordan Alvarez to cut it in half. They loaded the bases on three straight batters to start the top of the fifth, bringing Jose Altuve to the plate, who came through with a grand slam to give the Astros their first lead of the night, 5-2.
Load 'em up. @JoseAltuve27 will take care of the rest. pic.twitter.com/pd6td1ektc
— MLB (@MLB) July 2, 2021
They extended it to a four-run advantage later in the inning, getting a sac fly by Yuli Gurriel. After Cleveland went to their bullpen, Michael Brantley would give his former teammates a taste of what they've been missing, hitting a solo home run to make it a 7-2 game in the top of the seventh.
Houston ends losing skid to take the opener
After Valdez, Houston brought in Peter Solomon for the bottom of the eighth to hold on to the five-run lead, and he would do so by getting out of a two-out, bases-loaded jam to strand all three runners and send the game to the ninth. Having not worked in the last few days, Ryan Pressly came on in the bottom of the ninth to close things out, putting the Astros back in the win column to end their losing streak.
Up Next: Game two of this four-game set will be another 6:10 PM Central start on Friday. Lance McCullers Jr. (5-1, 2.94 ERA) will be on the mound to try and help Houston get back-to-back wins, while Cleveland will send out Sam Hentges (1-2, 7.32 ERA).
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Left-hander Mitchell Parker threw seven shutout innings, and Luis Garcia Jr. had three singles and two RBIs and the Washington Nationals beat the Houston Astros 6-0 on Sunday.
The Nationals have won three of their past four series after starting the season 2-6.
After allowing two runs over five innings last Monday in his major league debut, a 6-4 win over the L.A. Dodgers, Parker (2-0) was even more effective in his second major league start, allowing three hits, striking out eight and walking none, throwing 57 of his 73 pitches for strikes.
“He has so much poise," Nationals manager Dave Martinez said. "He’s ready. He gets the ball, ready to get back on the mound. I watched him today. He threw a ground ball. The play was made and he got right on the mound and was holding his glove up as if, ‘hey, come on, give me the ball, like I’m ready to get back on there’. It was cool to watch. He understands what he wants to do.”
Parker mixed his 85-87 mph splitter, 81-82 mph curveball and 92 mph four-seam fastball. He struck out Jose Altuve and Jeremy Peña a combined four times. Dylan Floro and Matt Barnes each added a scoreless inning for Washington.
Parker was thrilled to be able to throw the splitter for strikes, something that did not come as easy against the Dodgers.
“100 percent, yeah," Parker said. "We were able to get in there for more swings and misses. They were more competitive pitches. Going to keep working on it, seeing if we can keep it where it is at.”
Astros right-hander Hunter Brown replaced scheduled starter Cristian Javier, who was scratched from Sunday’s series finale with neck discomfort. Javier was placed on the 15-day injured list retroactive to April 14, and right-hander Spencer Arrighetti was called up from Triple-A Sugar Land.
Manager Joe Espada said they have not decided yet on an MRI for Javier.
“Neck discomfort, started a few days ago,” Espada said. “He tried to work through it but just couldn’t happen. This kind of just came out of nowhere. So, we are going to see what happens here.”
Brown allowed three runs and three hits and a walk in the first but then settled down, lasting four innings when his pitch count reached 84.
“Even in the first I felt like made some good pitches," Brown said. "Came to the outing prepared. Kind of did what I wanted to and it just didn’t fall our way there.”
García Jr.’s two-run single to center field highlighted the three-run first inning for the Nationals.
“We try to score every inning,' Garcia Jr. said through a translator. "But definitely when we score the first inning it gives you a different kind of sense of confidence throughout the game and it carries on through the games a different feeling.”
Joey Meneses had a bases-loaded two-run single to right field off Shawn Dubin in the fifth to make it 5-0. Nick Senzel hit his first home run of the season in the sixth to close out the scoring.
The Astros' tailspin continues, having lost five of their past six and nine of their past 12.
“It is not ideal in the situation that we are in but we are in this situation,” Espada said. “And we got to fight through this. We have guys in there who are capable of giving us innings and some of them are doing that. We are going back to playing the style of baseball that everyone sees the Astros play. We feel pretty good about the guys that we have in there to get us some good innings."
TRAINER’S ROOM
Astros left-hander Framber Valdez threw again Sunday and has a chance of starting one of the games in Chicago his week. “We will see how he feels,” Astros manager Joe Espada said. “Once we see how he feels, we will start talking about the possibilities if he can pitch in Chicago or not.”
Nationals catcher Keibert Ruiz said he is about “90 percent” recovered from the flu that placed him on the 10-day injured list on April 12. Nationals manager Dave Martinez said Ruiz will go on a rehab assignment this week to play a couple of games before returning to the club.
UP NEXT
Houston travels to Chicago to begin a three-game series against the Cubs on Tuesday. Espada confirmed JP France and Justin Verlander will start two of the games, but did not specify the order. Spencer Arrighetti, who was called up for Javier, is an option for the opener.
Washington has a day off before hosting the L.A. Dodgers on Tuesday night. Left-hander Patrick Corbin (0-3, 8.06 ERA) faces the Dodgers for the second consecutive start.