After getting shut out on Tuesday night, the Houston Astros played an early afternoon game three against the San Francisco Giants. Houston pitcher Framber Valdez had a nice day at the mound to keep the game scoreless most of the way but it wasn’t enough as the Giants won the rubber match 4-2 on Wednesday.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
It was a quick first inning for the Giants as they went three-up-three-down. The Astros got three singles at the bottom of the first but a grounder to second base by Alex Bregman turned into a double play that also got out Mauricio Dubon. Kyle Tucker’s groundout to end the inning left Yordan Alvarez and Jose Abreu stranded.
At the top of the second, Framber Valdez struck out J.D. Davis and Michael Conforto and then retired David Villar and Austin Slater in the third.
In the fifth, David Hensley reached first on an error by first LaMonte Wade Jr. After Martin Maldonado struck out, Dubon lined into a double play to end the inning.
The Giants drew first blood in the sixth as Slater hit an RBI single that brought in Joey Bart who earlier in the inning hit a single into right field. Mitch Haniger’s single into the center field made it a two-run game as Slater scored after stealing third base.
After a three-up-three-down inning by the Astros, Bart came right back with an RBI double in the seventh that drove in Conforto to make it a 3-0 game.
Bregman made it a one-run game at the bottom of the eighth with a two-run home run with two outs that went 386 feet over the left field wall that allowed Hensley to score too.
San Francisco added an extra run of cushion at the top of the ninth with a solo shot by Wilmer Flores that went 352 feet off of an 87 mph slider by Bryan Abreu.
The Astros couldn’t come back at the bottom of the frame as the Giants take the series with a 4-2 win.
BIG NUMBER: 19
There was a total of 19 strikeouts in Wednesday’s game as the Astros had 12, eight coming from Framber Valdez while San Fran had seven altogether.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Joey Bart
Bart had a solid day as he went 2/3 on the day with an RBI and a run scored as the Giants win the rubber match 4-2 over the Astros.
UP NEXT: The Houston Astros will return on Friday, May 5th in Seattle to play game one of a weekend series against the Mariners. The first pitch is set for 9:10.