In Houston, Jose Altuve smashed two home runs and secured a personal best of four RBIs, while Jeremy Peña achieved his 500th career hit with a triple, leading the Houston Astros to defeat the Seattle Mariners with a score of 9-2 on Thursday evening.
The game was knotted at two apiece heading into the bottom of the fourth inning when Jake Meyers hit a single off George Kirby (0-1). Following this, Cam Smith drew a walk. Then, Mauricio Dubón went on to score from third base after hitting a ground ball to right field, which gave Houston a lead of 3-2.
Peña subsequently hit a triple off the wall in left-center, sending two more runs home, which brought the score to 5-2 and led to Kirby being taken out of the game.
Altuve’s solo home run occurred in the fifth inning with no outs, extending their advantage to 6-2. Later, he hit another homer in the sixth inning with runners on base and two outs, making the score 8-2 and marking his 12th career multi-homer game.
In Houston’s game, Lance McCullers Jr. pitched 4 1/3 innings, giving up five hits and two runs while recording a season-best eight strikeouts. Shawn Dubin (1-0) secured the victory by getting the final two outs of the fifth inning.
In his first game of the season following time off due to inflammation in his throwing shoulder, Kirby gave up six hits and five runs, striking out four batters over 3 2/3 innings.
Seattle took to the field without Julio Rodríguez, as the center fielder was removed from the starting lineup approximately 30 minutes prior to the first pitch. Manager Dan Wilson stated that Rodríguez experienced some back stiffness and is considered day-to-day due to this condition.
Dylan Moore hit a home run, and Rowdy Tellez contributed two hits along with one RBI as the AL West-leading Mariners struggled, managing only 2-for-10 when they had runners in scoring position.
Tellez provided the Mariners with an initial advantage by driving in a run with a single and two outs in the first inning. Seattle extended their lead to 2-0 when Moore hit a home run at the beginning of the second inning.
Altuve tied the game with a sacrifice fly during Houston’s two-run second inning.
Key moment
Peña’s third-inning hit extended the Astros’ advantage and concluded Kirby’s evening.
Key stat
Peña becomes the fifth player in team history to achieve 500 hits as a shortstop, following Roger Metzger (839), Carlos Correa (778), Craig Reynolds (767), and Adam Everett (530).
Up next
In Friday evening’s continuation of the series, Houston’s right-handed pitcher Ryan Gusto (3-2, 4.85 ERA) will face off against Emerson Hancock (1-2, 6.21) who is also a right-hander.
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AP MLB:
https://apnews.com/MLB
Kristie Riecken, The Associated Press
