Luis Garcia threw seven shutout innings, Jake Meyers had a two-run double and Bryan Abreu pulled a magic act in relief as the Houston Astros beat the visiting Toronto Blue Jays 8-1 Wednesday.
Garcia (1-2) labored over his first three starts of the season, surrendering 12 earned runs in 14 innings. He was sharp from the onset against the Blue Jays, recording his first six outs via strikeout to lead the Astros to a win in the series rubber match and their second series victory.
Garcia allowed two hits and one walk while matching his career high of nine strikeouts. His lone free pass, to Toronto third baseman Matt Chapman, came with one out in the second. Garcia rebounded by striking out Alejandro Kirk and Whit Merrifield, both swinging, to strand Chapman.
Daulton Varsho recorded a two-out double in the fourth to notch the first hit off Garcia, who escaped that inning unscathed and faced the minimum over his final three innings of work. He threw 92 pitches, including 65 for strikes, and generated 23 swings and misses, 19 on his cutter.
Garcia handed a two-run lead to Rafael Montero, who promptly surrendered two hits and two walks without recording an out in the eighth. Merrifield stroked an RBI double over the third-base bag and into the left-field corner that scored pinch-runner Santiago Espinal. When Montero walked Nathan Lukes to load the bases, Abreu was summoned into the game.
Charged with protecting a one-run lead with the bases loaded and no outs, Abreu responded by getting George Springer to line out to third baseman Alex Bregman and followed with a strikeout of Bo Bichette. Abreu then engaged in a tense nine-pitch confrontation with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. before getting Guerrero to fly out to center, snuffing the threat.
As they did in the second inning against Toronto right-hander Jose Berrios (1-3), when Meyers plated Jeremy Pena (hit by pitch) and David Hensley (walk) with his double to right field, the Astros fashioned a two-out rally in the eighth. This time, Jose Abreu followed singles by Mauricio Dubon and Alex Bregman, plus a Yordan Alvarez walk, with a two-run single to center. Berrios gave up two runs on three hits with three strikeouts in seven innings.
Abreu struck against Blue Jays reliever Zach Pop. Pena added a three-run home run to left field, his third, off Adam Cimber, to complete the six-run inning.
–Field Level Media
