Hunter Brown posted his seventh consecutive quality start and the Houston Astros turned six first-inning singles into a 5-2 victory over the visiting Colorado Rockies on Tuesday night in the opener of a two-game series.
Brown (5-5) limited Colorado to two hits and three walks while striking out seven in six scoreless innings. He is 3-1 with a 1.47 ERA over his past seven starts.
Brown faced just one batter over the minimum through the first three innings after issuing a one-out walk to Nolan Jones in the second. Brown ran into trouble in the fourth when Ezequiel Tovar and Brendan Rodgers singled, but he rallied with a strikeout of Jones. Jake Cave then lined out to end the frame.
After Brown issued back-to-back two-out walks to Ryan McMahon and Rodgers in the sixth, he closed his outing with a 97-mph fastball to fan Jones. Brown threw 94 pitches, 58 for strikes.
The Astros made the most of their six singles in the first, plating five runs off Colorado starter Austin Gomber (1-5). Houston benefited from a stolen base from Jose Altuve and a Gomber wild pitch that allowed Yainer Diaz and Jake Meyers to each advance one base and set the table for Chas McCormick, whose two-run single capped the uprising.
Before McCormick delivered the final blow of the first, Alex Bregman, Diaz and Meyers each had an RBI single.
Gomber rebounded and allowed the five runs on eight hits to go along with four strikeouts and no walks over 5 1/3 innings.
The Rockies fashioned a rally in the eighth against Astros reliever Seth Martinez, recording a pair of base hits after Martinez opened the frame by hitting Brenton Doyle with a pitch. Rodgers dumped a one-out single into shallow right that scored Doyle and facilitated a pitching change.
Ryan Pressly entered for Houston and induced an inning-ending double play from Jones. In the ninth, Michael Toglia socked his eighth home run of the season off Josh Hader, who limited the damage in that frame to that solo shot.
–Field Level Media
