Houston’s Alex Bregman and Yainer Diaz hit back-to-back home runs in the seventh inning to lift the Astros past the host Baltimore Orioles, winning 6-3 on Sunday night to salvage a split of the four-game series.
Four Houston pitchers held the Orioles to two total hits, but it took some late offense to pull out the victory after the Orioles rallied from a multi-run deficit for the third day in a row.
Bregman’s 21st home run with two outs broke a 3-3 tie and Diaz followed with his 16th blast. Both shots came off reliever Burch Smith (4-1).
Ramon Urias’ three-run blast in the fifth for the Orioles knotted the score, but Baltimore wasn’t able to secure a third consecutive comeback victory.
Astros starter Yusei Kikuchi didn’t allow a hit across the first four innings, but Eloy Jimenez began the fifth with a single and Emmanuel Rivera drew a one-out walk. Urias drilled a 1-2 fastball for his ninth homer of the season.
Kikuchi, who was in his fifth start with Houston since a trade from Toronto, went 5 2/3 innings, walking three and striking out four. The Astros are 5-0 in games Kikuchi has pitched.
Hector Neris (9-4) was the winning pitcher with 1 1/3 innings of relief. Bryan Abreu and Josh Hader each worked an inning from the Houston bullpen. Hader notched his 28th save despite issuing a lead-off walk.
The game ended on a double play, so Baltimore had two runners left on base in the game.
Orioles starter Dean Kremer gave up three runs on seven hits in six innings.
Zach Dezenzo and Mauricio Dubon joined Bregman with two hits apiece for the Astros, who’ve won 13 of their last 18 games despite the late-game problems the previous two days.
Houston scored three fourth-inning runs with two outs. Victor Caratini’s single began the scoring and Dezenzo added a two-run double.
Houston’s Jake Meyers added a pinch-hit sacrifice fly in the eighth for the game’s final run.
–Field Level Media