Jeremy Pena homered, Yordan Alvarez hit an RBI double, and the Houston Astros rode a strong start from right-hander Spencer Arrighetti to a 2-1 victory over the visiting New York Mets in the rubber match of a three-game interleague series.

Pena recorded the Astros’ first extra-base of the season when he lined a 2-1 slider from Mets right-hander Griffin Canning (0-1) into the left field Crawford Boxes leading off the fifth inning.

Canning had faced the minimum in three of his previous four frames. Jose Altuve stroked a leadoff single in the first for the Astros but was erased trying to steal second base. In the fourth, Canning induced an inning-ending double play from Christian Walker after Isaac Paredes opened the inning with a walk.

Paredes reached on a fielder’s choice in the sixth and scored when Alvarez blasted a double to center, breaking a 1-1 tie. Canning fell to 0-4 in 10 career starts against Houston.

Arrighetti (1-0) retired 13 consecutive batters following his two-out walk to Brandon Nimmo in the top of the first, starting with his inning-ending strikeout of Mark Vientos.

Jose Siri used his blistering speed to manufacture the Mets’ lone run off Arrighetti, starting with his leadoff walk in the sixth. Siri then swiped second base. He advanced to third when Francisco Lindor flew out to center. He scored when Juan Soto grounded to the mound.

Arrighetti fielded the grounder cleanly and faced third base to stop Siri in his tracks. But Siri never retreated to the bag, and when Arrighetti turned his back to Siri and made a soft toss to first, Siri subsequently beat the throw home from first baseman Walker.

Arrighetti struck out Pete Alonso to cap the sixth and his outing. He allowed one run and one hit with two walks and five strikeouts. He threw 87 pitches, 51 for strikes, and faced the minimum in four of his six innings. Astros closer Josh Hader recorded his second save of the series by working around a leadoff walk to Soto in the ninth.

–Field Level Media