Alex Bregman, Jeremy Pena and Yordan Alvarez smacked home runs and the visiting Houston Astros slugged their way to an 11-7 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday.
Pena and Alvarez homered in the Astros’ five-run sixth inning to extend their tenuous 5-4 lead. The cushion was needed as Toronto chipped away at the deficit with a Tyler Heineman RBI single in the sixth inning and a two-run homer from Matt Chapman in the seventh.
Pena drilled his fourth homer 407 feet to left-center field, driving home Martin Maldonado and Chas McCormick while stretching the Houston lead to 8-4. Two batters later, Alvarez plated Bregman with his fifth homer, a two-run shot to left that chased Toronto reliever Trevor Richards.
Richards appeared to save the day for the Blue Jays an inning earlier when he hurriedly entered for injured reliever Tayler Saucedo and muted an Astros rally, inducing Kyle Tucker to ground into a double play before retiring Aledmys Diaz to snuff a two-on, no-out threat in the fifth.
Tucker answered the Chapman home run with a double in the eighth that scored Alvarez. Every member of the Astros lineup, adjusted when Michael Brantley was scratched due to health and safety protocol, recorded a hit save for Diaz.
Bregman, who clubbed his fourth home run in the first inning, and Alvarez scored three times each. Alvarez and Gurriel notched three hits apiece.
Alvarez, Gurriel and Tucker drove in runs during the Astros’ three-run third, but the Blue Jays answered quickly in the bottom of that frame, erasing a 4-1 deficit with one swing of the bat.
That blow was landed by Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who knocked in Heineman and George Springer with his sixth homer to pull Toronto even. Guerrero struck against Astros starter Jose Urquidy (2-1), who managed to settle down and work five innings, allowing four runs on seven hits and one walk with six strikeouts.
Ryne Stanek and Hector Neris worked a scoreless inning apiece in the eighth and ninth, respectively, for the Astros.
Richards gave up five runs on three hits and two walks while recording only four outs. Blue Jays starter Yusei Kikuchi allowed four runs on four hits and three walks while logging 2 2/3 innings.
Raimel Tapia finished 4-for-5 for the Blue Jays, while Chapman, Heineman and Santiago Espinal had two hits apiece.
–Field Level Media