Houston’s Alex Bregman and Yainer Diaz hit back-to-back home runs in the seventh inning to lift the Astros to a 6-3 win over the host Baltimore Orioles, allowing them to salvage a split of a 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 of the season came with two outs and broke a 3-3 tie, and Diaz followed with his 16th homer of the year. Both shots came off reliever Burch Smith (4-1).
Ramon Urias’ three-run blast in the fifth knotted the score at 3-3 for the Orioles, 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 then drilled a 1-2 fastball for his ninth homer of the season.
Kikuchi, who was making his fifth start with Houston since being traded by the Toronto Blue Jays, went 5 2/3 innings, yielding the three runs on two hits while 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 out of the Houston bullpen. Hader notched his 28th save of 2024 despite issuing a leadoff walk in the ninth.
The contest ended on a double play, so Baltimore had just two runners left on base for 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 have won 13 of their past 18 games despite the late-game problems the previous two days.
Houston scored three fourth-inning runs with two outs. Victor Caratini’s RBI 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
