The Houston Astros continued their homestand by welcoming former star Carlos Correa and the Minnesota Twins to Daikin Park. Houston jumped out to an 8-0 lead in the first three innings before settling in both offensively and defensively on their way to a 10-3 series opening win.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
Houston jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the series opener against the Twins as Jeremy Pena and Yainer Diaz reached base before Cam Smith got them home on a two-run single to make it 2-0. Jacob Melton then scored Christian Walker to increase the lead to 3-0 on Friday night.
In the second inning, Altuve got a two-run double, scoring Pena and Brendan Rogers to pad the lead and make it a 5-0 game.
The Astros weren’t done as they added three more in the third to jump out to an 8-0 lead, in large part to a two-run triple from Jacob Melton, followed by a sacrifice fly from Mauricio Dubon to score Melton.
Minnesota finally got on the board in the fourth as Willi Castro homered to left field to make it an 8-1 contest. In the bottom half, Altuve erased that homer with a solo blast of his own as the Astros now led 9-1 in Houston.
Royce Lewis would cut into the Houston lead yet again with a solo shot to center field and a 9-2 score.
Colton Gordon had a great start for the Astros, pitching six complete innings with just two runs and five strikeouts.
In the bottom of the eighth, Pena got another run in with an RBI single to score Dubon and make it 10-2.
In the ninth, the Twins inched one run closer with a solo home run from Ty France, but that would be all as the Astros picked up the 10-3 win.
BIG NUMBER: 24
With the win, the Astros have scored 24 runs in the last three games, including 10 runs in two of the three contests.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Jose Altuve
Altuve went 2-4 on the night and drove in three runs with a two-run double and a solo home run on the night.
UP NEXT: Game 2 between the Astros and the Twins is set for 3:10 p.m. and can be heard on NewsTalk 98.5