The Houston Astros loaded the bases with nobody out in the first inning and didn’t score. That set the tone.
Houston fell 6-3 to the Minnesota Twins at Target Field on Monday, dropping to 19-30 in the opener of a three-game series. The Astros finished 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position and left 10 on base, squandering chances on both sides of a nearly two-hour rain delay that interrupted the game in the fifth inning.
Jeremy Peña returned to the lineup after missing 33 games with a right hamstring strain, batting leadoff and playing shortstop. He was hit by a pitch in the first, moved to third on an Isaac Paredes single, and watched the rally evaporate when Zach Dezenzo lined into a double play to end the inning with the bases loaded. Peña finished with a sacrifice fly in the seventh and a sliding catch in shallow left field to end the bottom half—encouraging signs for a player who said his biggest concern returning was his acceleration out of the box.
Tatsuya Imai, for the most part, looked better than his 8.31 ERA suggests. He didn’t walk a batter for the first time in five starts, induced 19 whiffs, and showed improved fastball life at 95.8 mph. Two swings by Josh Bell were his undoing—a solo homer on a changeup in the second and a two-run shot to the opposite field on an elevated fastball in the fourth, giving Minnesota a 3-0 lead before the rain arrived.
After the delay, Jayden Murray allowed three runs in 1⅓ innings to make it 6-0 before Houston finally got on the board. In the seventh, Christian Vázquez singled home Brice Matthews, Peña added a sacrifice fly, and Christian Walker drove in another on a single, cutting the deficit to 6-3. Justin Topa left with the tying run at the plate, but Eric Orze induced a groundout from pinch-hitter Zach Cole to end the threat.
In the ninth, Yordan Alvarez came up as the potential tying run with two on and two out and was frozen by a Taylor Rogers sinker for strike three. Walker grounded out to end it.
Jose Altuve was officially placed on the 10-day injured list Monday with a Grade 2 left oblique strain. Jake Meyers traveled to Minnesota but was not activated before the game. Lance McCullers Jr. starts Tuesday.
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