The Houston Astros returned to Minute Maid Park for an afternoon special looking to get back to .500 baseball against the Colorado Rockies.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
The first three innings of the contest saw strong pitching performances from former Louisiana Ragin Cajun Spencer Arrighetti and Ryan Feltner. Houston got some offense going in the fourth thanks to a broken-bat single from Jose Altuve followed by a pair of stolen bases moving him to third. Yainer Diaz then singled to right field to score Altuve and put the Astros on the board 1-0.
Altuve added another run with an RBI single in the fifth inning to score Cesar Salazar to make it 2-0 in favor of Houston.
Arrighetti was dealing on the bump for the Astros, pitching a career-high seven innings with only three hits and 10 strikeouts, the first Houston pitcher to reach double-digit punchouts this season.
In the seventh, Jon Singleton and Jeremy Pena both singled before Joey Loperfido was hit by a pitch to load the bases with nobody out. Salazar hit into a sacrifice fly to score a run before Altuve reached on a fielder’s choice and Alex Bregman grounded into a fielder’s choice of his own, but a throwing error allowed a third run to score to put the Astros ahead comfortably 5-0.
Later in the inning, Diaz delivered again with an RBI single to score Yordan Alvarez to increase the lead during the final game of the homestand.
Shawn Dubin came in for the eighth and Colorado got on the board after a walk, ground-rule double, and a sacrifice fly scored the Rockies’ first run of the game.
The Astros got the run back in the bottom of the eighth with a ground-rule double from Mauricio Dubon followed by an RBI single from Pena made it a 7-1 lead for Houston.
The Astros got a three-up, three-down inning in the ninth to clinch the 7-1 victory, putting their overall record at 40-40.
BIG NUMBER: 14
Houston pitching combined for 14 strikeouts in the win today as Arrighetti led the way with 10.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Spencer Arrighetti
Arrighetti shined in the final game of June at the Juice Box, giving up just three hits in a career-high seven innings of work while striking out a career-high 10 batters.
UP NEXT: Houston departs on a 10-game road trip starting in New York against the Mets. First pitch is Friday night at 6:10 p.m. and can be heard on ESPN 103.7 Lafayette and 104.1 Lake Charles.