Jeremy Peña drove in two with a home run, Christian Walker capped the scoring with a three-run blast in the eighth, and Peter Lambert worked five innings as the Houston Astros beat the Milwaukee Brewers 9-2 Saturday afternoon at Daikin Park to even the series.
Walker’s homer—his 16th—came on a 3-0 pitch from Jake Woodford with Peña and Yordan Alvarez on base, turning a 6-2 game into a runaway. It was the seventh time in eight games Houston hit at least two home runs.
Lambert allowed a first-inning RBI double to William Contreras but settled in from there, completing five innings and allowing two runs on five hits. He survived a bases-loaded jam in the fifth—Milwaukee had cut the lead to 3-2—when Contreras hit a 105.3 mph grounder up the middle that Peña fielded and then spun and threw to first to end the inning. A.J. Blubaugh replaced Lambert and retired nine of 10 batters faced, four by strikeout, over three scoreless innings to earn his fourth hold. Logan VanWey worked a clean ninth.
Peña was at the center of the Astros’ two big innings. In the second, Cam Smith singled and scored on a Jake Meyers RBI single, which was the result of aggressive third-base coaching by Tony Perezchica, who sent Smith home against a Brewers outfielder with a below-average arm. The Brewers challenged the safe call at the plate but the ruling stood. One batter later, Peña pulled a sweeper from Brandon Sproat over the Crawford Boxes for a two-run homer and a 3-1 lead.
In the fifth, Peña singled, stole second, and scored on a Taylor Trammell RBI single, sliding home headfirst on a throw from second base. Isaac Paredes followed with a two-run double to left off Carlos Rodriguez to make it 6-2.
Peña finished 3-for-5 with two RBI. Paredes drove in two. Trammell, Meyers, and Walker each added one. Alvarez went 1-for-4 with a double.
The series is tied at one game apiece. The Astros and Brewers play the rubber match Sunday afternoon at Daikin Park, with Tatsuya Imai starting for Houston against Milwaukee’s Jakob Misiorowski, the major-league strikeout leader.
Heading to Daikin Park soon? Check the Astros promotions schedule before your next game.
