This was the kind of game the Houston Astros needed—clean, controlled, and played from ahead all night.
Isaac Paredes put it away early with a three-run homer in the first inning and a sacrifice fly in the third, Peter Lambert and three relievers kept the Athletics quiet, and Houston beat the A’s 5-1 Friday night at Daikin Park to open a stretch of six straight division games—three at home against the Athletics before heading to Anaheim to face the Angels. The Astros are 29-36.
The tone was set in the bottom of the first. Jeremy Peña singled and Yordan Alvarez walked, and Paredes drove a Jack Perkins sinker 376 feet into the left-center archway. Three pitches into the game, Houston led 3-0. Two innings later, Alvarez singled, Christian Walker tripled him home, and Paredes added a sacrifice fly to make it 5-0.
From there, it was Lambert’s game to manage. He escaped a bases-loaded jam in the second, striking out Jeff McNeil and Darell Hernaiz to strand three runners, and largely kept the Athletics off balance through five-plus innings. Brent Rooker’s solo homer in the sixth was the only real damage. Enyel De Los Santos came on and stranded two inherited runners, Bryan King worked a scoreless eighth, and Josh Hader struck out the side in the ninth.
Nick Kurtz has bedeviled the Astros ever since he arrived in the majors last year, entering Friday with a .462/.541/1.115 slash line against Houston, including a four-homer game at this ballpark. He was held in check all night. Lambert retired him twice, and King erased him on a double play in the eighth.
Alvarez made two leaping catches in left field that helped keep the game from getting complicated. Jose Altuve, back in the lineup after missing 19 games with a left oblique strain, singled in the eighth in his return. And Carlos Correa, out for the season after ankle surgery, was in the clubhouse pregame and ran the team’s hitters meeting, per manager Joe Espada.
“Just to talk about baseball and things that he sees on TV—he’s like having a scout in the stands,” Espada said. “But just having him back, he feels better, to see him walking around without crutches … it’s good. He’s good to have around.”
The Astros host the Athletics again Saturday at 3:10 p.m. at Daikin Park, with Tatsuya Imai starting for Houston against Kade Morris.
Heading to Daikin Park soon? Check the Astros promotions schedule before your next game.
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