The Houston Astros have already secured their first winning series at Kansas City since 2022. Considering how well they’ve fared with Spencer Arrighetti on the mound, a sweep could be next.
They’ll try to accomplish that feat Sunday and win a sixth consecutive start made by the talented right-hander in this series finale against the scuffling Royals.
After using a nine-run first inning to win 10-8 in the series opener Friday, Houston rallied from deficits of 3-0 early and 7-5 late Saturday, to pull out an 8-7 victory over the Royals.
“We’re ready for any moment,” Astros outfielder Brice Matthews, who has homered in each game of this set, told Space City Home Network.
“We’re just there to fight, to claw. Try to get a win each and every day.”
The Astros are 9-1 this season in games started by Arrighetti (7-1, 2.21 ERA).
He yielded seven earned runs through his first eight 2026 starts, but has equaled that amount in the two since. Three of those runs came during the Astros’ 5-4, 10-inning victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Monday, when he also gave up four hits and walked four, but completed six innings for his fifth quality start of the season.
Arrighetti surrendered seven runs and seven hits over just three innings of Houston’s 11-2 loss at Kansas City in 2024 — his only previous start against the Royals.
This weekend, Houston has totaled 21 hits, and clubbed eight home runs in Kansas City. Christian Walker has hit two of his 18 homers in the series, while MVP contender Yordan Alvarez has three hits in each contest, including that two-homer first inning Friday, to raise his batting average to .327.
Riding a 20-game on-base streak, Alvarez is batting .359 in 34 career games against the Royals.
Alvarez has never faced scheduled Kansas City starter Stephen Kolek (3-1, 3.14 ERA), who’s been a pleasant surprise since being pressed into service in early May due to injuries within the starting rotation.
He’s been especially good at home, going 2-0 with a 1.80 ERA in three starts.
Kolek yielded three earned runs over 12 innings of his two June starts. On Tuesday, the right-hander yielded eight hits, but only an earned run over five innings of the Royals’ 5-3 home victory over Texas.
A Houston native, Kolek has never faced the Astros, but will try to keep this version at bay after Kansas City’s first two starters of the series – Luinder Avila and Noah Cameron – allowed 12 runs and four homers over five innings.
The Royals have lost four in a row — all at home, where they’re mired in a 3-11 rut.
“It’s just finding a way, competing every day,” star Bobby Witt Jr. told the Royals’ official website.
Witt had three hits Saturday, including career No. 800. He’s 7-for-18 in the last four games.
Teammate Vinnie Pasquantino is batting .333 during an eight-game hitting streak. However, he exited Saturday’s game with a right hand/hamate injury, leaving his immediate status uncertain.
–Field Level Media
