Houston has won five in a row

Correa, Bielak lead Astros to win over Rockies, extend winning streak to five

Astros Carlos Correa
Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images

Astros Carlos Correa

Riding a four-game winning streak and having won five of their last six, the Astros welcomed the 13-8 Rockies to Minute Maid Park on Monday. The two teams were set to face each other for four-straight games, with two in Houston then two in Denver. Here is a quick rundown of the series opener:

Final Score: Astros 2, Rockies 1.

Record: 12-10, second in the AL West.

Winning pitcher: Brandon Bielak (3-0, 1.69 ERA).

Losing pitcher: Kyle Freeland (2-1, 2.56 ERA).

Correa strikes first as Bielak goes six solid innings

Houston wasted no time getting on the board, getting an early rally started with two outs in the bottom of the first. With a runner already on base, Yuli Gurriel delivered a single to put runners on first and third, then Carlos Correa drove them in with a two-RBI double to give the Astros the quick 2-0 lead.

Trevor Story cut that lead in half in the top of the third, hammering a solo home run to make it 2-1. That would be the only hit Bielak allowed over his six innings of work, putting together another solid start to hold down a potent Rockies offense. His final line: 6.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 4 K, 1 HR.

Houston's bullpen holds on to the one-run lead

Brooks Raley took over for Bielak to pitch the top of the seventh, maintaining the one-run lead with a 1-2-3 inning. The Astros threatened to add insurance runs in the bottom of the inning but would strand two runners to keep it a one-run game. Raley would face one more batter, getting a strikeout to start the top of the eighth before Dusty Baker brought in Josh James, who would finish the inning.

After another scoreless inning in the bottom of the eighth by the Astros, that sent the game to the ninth, where Blake Taylor would come on for the save opportunity. He would convert it, working around a leadoff single to extend Houston's winning streak to five games and keeping them in second place in the division.

Up Next: These two teams will play Tuesday at 2:10 PM Central in the afternoon to allow time after for their flights to Denver for the other half of this series. The starters for the game will be Zack Greinke (1-0, 2.53 ERA) for the Astros and Antonio Senzatela (3-0, 3.91 ERA) for the Rockies.

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Yordan Alvarez is BACK! Composite Getty Image.

The Houston Astros square off with the Detroit Tigers in game one of the Wild Card series this Tuesday afternoon, and now we finally have a clear picture of what the Astros roster will look like.

Most importantly, Yordan Alvarez made the roster and will hit third against Tigers fireballer Tarik Skubal.

MLB.com's Brian McTaggart is reporting that manager Joe Espada moved Alvarez to third in the batting order, after originally penciling him in second.

The other big news revealed today was the status of Justin Verlander. He is not on the Wild Card Series roster.

However, Chas McCormick did make the squad after dealing with a hand/finger injury recently. You can see the full roster above. The Astros are carrying 15 position players and 11 pitchers.

Framber Valdez and Skubal face off at 1:32PM Tuesday afternoon in Houston.

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