After Tuesday night’s disappointing performance against the Atlanta Braves, the Houston Astros responded in a big way with a 7-2 win to even things at one win apiece before the series shifts to Atlanta.
How It Happened
After a solid first inning from Jose Urquidy, Jose Altuve got things starting in the right direction offensively with a leadoff double. The Astros took advantage of that early extra-base hit with Alex Bregman hitting a sac fly to center field to take an early lead.
The Braves responded in the second with a two-out solo shot from Travis D’Arnaud to the Crawford Boxes to tie things up. Houston answered the bell in the bottom frame thanks to a one-out RBI single from Jose Siri to take the lead. Martin Maldonado followed that up with a two-run single after a throwing error by left fielder Eddie Rosario to put the Astros up 4-1.
Atlanta got another run across in the fifth with a two-out RBI single from Freddie Freeman. Houston got another big break in the bottom of the sixth with Yordan Alvarez scoring off of a fielder’s choice by Yuli Gurriel to make it a 6-2 lead. Then Altuve put the icing on the cake in the bottom of the seventh with a solo shot to the Crawford Boxes, making it a 7-2 lead.
Big Number: 7
Jose Urquidy headed into tonight’s game with an axe to grind after his performance against the Red Sox where he allowed six runs off of five hits in one and two-thirds. He flipped the script on Wednesday night, striking out seven and allowing only two runs to come across. This postseason run for the Astros has been determined largely by how the starting rotation works out and seeing Urquidy got five solid innings of work before a travel day was huge.
Player of the Game: Jose Altuve
The former AL MVP has another MVP-worthy performance with two extra-base hits, including the game-sealing home run.
Next Up: Friday at Atlanta; First Pitch at 7:09