DENVER — Mike Burrows gave the Houston Astros everything they could have asked for Tuesday night. The offense gave him almost nothing in return.
Burrows held the Colorado Rockies to three runs over 5⅔ innings in a gutsy start at Coors Field, but Kyle Freeland, a 32-year-old Denver native and the Rockies’ franchise-record five-time Opening Day starter, was better, and the Astros managed just one run in a 5-1 defeat that dropped them to 6-5 on the season—their third straight loss.
Christian Walker’s solo home run in the second inning, his third of the season, accounted for Houston’s only run. After that, the Astros went quietly. They were retired in order in the third, fifth, and ninth innings and never mounted a serious threat against Freeland, who worked six innings and kept Houston’s potent offense in check all night.
Burrows matched Freeland pitch for pitch through much of the game before Willi Castro did the damage. Castro tied it with an RBI single in the second, then broke it open with a two-run homer in the fourth to give Colorado a 3-1 lead. Burrows was replaced by Steven Okert in the sixth after runners reached, and Kai-Wei Teng inherited the situation in the seventh, where Mickey Moniak greeted him with a two-run homer to push the lead to 5-1 and effectively end the game.
The loss is the Astros’ third straight and comes at a difficult time. With Hunter Brown on the injured list with a Grade 2 shoulder strain, Houston needs contributions from every rotation arm. Burrows provided his—the result simply did not follow.
Isaac Paredes was back in the lineup after returning from the bereavement list. The Astros and Rockies play the series finale Wednesday afternoon in Denver.
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