Astros snapped losing streak against Indians

 

Ultimately, the Astros snapped their losing streak in the fifth inning and remained on top of the American League West. During Thursday's 7-2 victory over the Indians, Houston rallied for five runs.

In the first third of the game, the Astros struggled to hit righty JC Mejia. After starting out with three zeroes, the Indians' starter finished the third inning up by two runs. However, the offense has put it all together since the fourth episode when Yordan *lvarez hit a solo moonshot to center field for his 14th home run of the season.

As Houston was down 2-1, the top fifth began with a double from Myles Straw and a walk to Jason Castro. With Mejia unable to make the throw to first, Robel Garcia reached base on a sac bunt, leaving the bases loaded. After that, our beloved second baseman hit a GRAND SLAM on a line drive near left field pole to put the Astros up by three runs (5-2).

As Altuve achieved his 600th career RBI (just the eighth Astros player to reach that mark), it was his second grand slam of the season and fifth of his career. The four-bagger was also his first since June 23.

The Altuve bomb provided support for starter Framber Valdez, who struggled with his command and was hit hard in his first inning. In spite of this, Valdez pitched seven innings of four-hit, two-run ball to lower his ERA to 2.18. Five hitters were walked and six Indians were struck out. After retiring five consecutive opponents, Framer got his fifth win of the season (5-1).

The Astros were in control after Altuve's grand slam. Michael Brantley hit a solo shot in the seventh inning to increase the lead, Peter Solomon pitched the eighth, and Ryan Pressly got the last three outs to secure the victory.