DENVER — Cody Bolton did his part. Ryan Weiss did not.
Bolton turned in a gutsy 4⅓-inning effort in his first major league start Monday night, and the Houston Astros carried a 3-0 lead into the fifth inning at Coors Field. Then Weiss entered and the Rockies did what the Rockies do, scoring seven runs across the fifth and sixth innings to turn a promising night into a 9-7 defeat.
It is the Astros’ second straight loss, dropping them to 6-4 on the season.
Bolton allowed two runs on three hits with two walks and five strikeouts, a solid debut under difficult circumstances. Pressed into the starting role after Hunter Brown was placed on the injured list Sunday with a right shoulder strain, he gave the Astros a chance to win. Weiss could not protect the lead. He allowed eight hits and seven runs in 2⅔ innings, and the game slipped away in a hurry.
The fifth inning was the backbreaker. With the bases loaded and nobody out, Weiss watched Edouard Julien line a two-run single, Hunter Goodman add another RBI single, TJ Rumfield clear the bases with a two-run triple and Troy Johnston follow with an RBI double. Seven runs in the inning, and just like that it was 7-3 Rockies. Johnston added a solo homer in the sixth to push the lead to 9-3.
The Astros had built their early lead with some crisp hitting. Jose Altuve doubled to lead off the game—his 2,400th career hit, a milestone that made him just the second active player in baseball to reach that mark, joining Freddie Freeman, and only the second Astro ever, alongside Craig Biggio. Carlos Correa followed with an RBI double and Christian Walker added an RBI single to put Houston up 2-0 in the first. Cam Smith crushed a 462-foot solo homer to center field in the fourth—his third of the season—to make it 3-0.
Houston rallied in the late innings but never got close enough. Joey Loperfido hit a sacrifice fly in the sixth, and Yainer Diaz added an RBI single to make it 9-5. Jeremy Peña doubled in the seventh, moved to third on a Yordan Alvarez flyout and scored on an Altuve infield single to make it 9-6. Walker singled and Smith doubled in the eighth before Loperfido grounded into a run-scoring force out and Diaz added another RBI single, trimming it to 9-7. But that was as close as they would get.
Enyel De Los Santos, activated from the injured list earlier Monday, threw a clean eighth inning in his season debut. Carlos Correa committed two errors at third base.
The Astros and Rockies play again Tuesday night in Denver.
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