CLEVELAND — Isaac Paredes had a night to remember at Progressive Field on Monday, clubbing two home runs and driving in three as the Houston Astros rolled past the Cleveland Guardians, 9-2, to improve their record to 9-15 on the season.
Paredes got things started in the third inning, lining a solo shot to left field off Slade Cecconi to give the Astros a 3-2 lead they would not relinquish. He was back at it in the ninth, connecting again off Connor Brogdon with no one aboard to cap the scoring and push the final margin to seven. It was the kind of performance that has come to define this offense—patient, powerful, and capable of doing damage at any point in the lineup.
The Astros actually struck first in a big way in the top of the first, when Christian Walker unloaded a two-run homer to left-center, his fifth of the season, to plate Carlos Correa and hand Houston a 2-0 advantage before Cleveland had even come to bat. The Guardians answered with a pair of runs in the bottom half, but that would be as close as they would get.
Spencer Arrighetti was solid in his five innings of work, allowing two runs on five hits while striking out three. The right-hander walked four, something to watch moving forward, but he kept Cleveland off the board after the first inning and gave the bullpen a reasonable workload to manage. Steven Okert, AJ Blubaugh, and Jayden Murray combined for four scoreless frames to close it out—no small feat on a chilly night at Progressive Field, where temperatures had dropped to 39 degrees at first pitch under the open sky.
For Blubaugh, it was something more than just a scoreless inning. The 25-year-old right-hander grew up in Mansfield, Ohio, about an hour from Cleveland, cheering for the Guardians as a kid and working as a substitute teacher at Clear Fork School District in the offseasons. On Monday, 150 of those students and staff filled two school buses to cheer him on from the left-field stands as he retired the side in the seventh, inducing a groundout from José Ramírez and a Manzardo strikeout before finishing the frame with a Valera flyout.
The fourth inning did more than pad the lead—it turned a tight game into a comfortable one. Taylor Trammell started things with a bunt single before Yainer Diaz singled to move him to second. An injury delay followed when Trammell pulled up on the bases, eventually being replaced by pinch-runner Cam Smith. Brice Matthews then doubled to score Smith and send Dustin Harris to third, and Carlos Correa followed with a two-run single to center that pushed the lead to 6-2. The Astros added another run in the fifth when Cam Smith swiped second and, helped along by a Bo Naylor throwing error, advanced all the way to third, setting up a Yainer Diaz sacrifice fly, and two more in the seventh on a Walker double and a Smith sacrifice fly.
Matthews had a strong night on both sides of the ball, going 1-for-3 with a walk, a stolen base, and two RBI while handling a position switch in center field as the Astros shuffled their outfield alignment following Trammell’s exit. Smith, inserted as a pinch-runner, finished 0-for-1 with a stolen base and a run scored.
Trammell’s status will be one to monitor. The outfielder left with a left groin injury sustained on the bases in the fourth inning and did not return.
Correa finished 2-for-4 with two RBI, Diaz went 1-for-3 with two RBI, and Walker added two hits and three runs batted in. Houston went 3-for-10 with runners in scoring position and left seven on base, numbers that will improve, but on a night when the long ball did most of the heavy lifting, it hardly mattered.
The Astros will meet the Guardians Tuesday night for the second game of their three-game series.
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