Shane Baz earned his first pitching victory with the Baltimore Orioles and Pete Alonso smacked a two-run homer in a 5-3 victory against the visiting Houston Astros to open a three-game series Tuesday night.

Baz (1-2), an offseason acquisition who signed a big contract just days before his Orioles debut, held the Astros to one run on six hits and one walk in 5 2/3 innings. He struck out six.

Alonso, another newcomer to the team, connected for his fourth home run with two outs in the fifth inning to stretch the lead to 4-1. It was his second homer in a two-week span.

Adley Rutschman had a pair of run-producing singles and Samuel Basallo, who also had two hits, doubled in a run as the Orioles halted a two-game skid.

Brice Matthews homered among his three hits from the No. 9 spot in the Houston batting order. He drove in a run with an eighth-inning single as the American League-worst Astros pulled within 5-3. Christian Walker and Yainer Diaz both notched two hits for Houston, which is 3-8 across its last 11 games.

Despite producing 11 hits, the Astros went 2-for-14 with runners in scoring position, striking out 10 times in those situations. Houston batters struck out 12 times overall, all within the first eight innings.

Houston’s Kai-Wei Teng (1-2), who drew his first start of the year after 11 relief appearances, was charged with two runs in three innings. Ryan Weiss allowed three runs in 3 2/3 innings of relief.

Baz is a right-hander who had been with the Tampa Bay Rays. He has logged at least five innings in all six starts this year.

Rico Garcia and Andrew Kittredge followed Baz in relief before Anthony Nunez was tagged for two runs in the eighth. Ryan Helsley, who hadn’t pitched in a week, worked the ninth inning for his seventh save.

–Field Level Media