The Houston Astros cruised to an 11-5 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks, powered by home runs from Jeremy Peña and José Altuve. The Astros’ offensive dominance secured a decisive win, extending their strong form late in the season.
Houston Astros Crush Diamondbacks 11-5 Behind Peña and Altuve’s Homers
HOUSTON— With an 11-5 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Saturday, the Houston Astros maintained their dominance in games initiated by Yusei Kikuchi, bringing their record to 7-0. The Astros' offensive surge was spearheaded by Jeremy Peña and Jose Altuve, who each blasted a home run.
Houston's lead in the AL West was extended to 5 1/2 games over Seattle due to Peña's three-run drive in the sixth inning breaking the game open. Altuve contributed three hits and three runs to Kikuchi's (8-9), who managed to strike out six batters in six innings, despite allowing four runs on seven hits.
"It is an honor to score runs," Peña stated. "That is our objective." Our pitching staff performs exceptionally well when we have a lead. Therefore, we endeavour to accumulate some runs and allow our pitching staff to execute their duties.
Arizona has suffered three consecutive losses and seven of its last ten games, despite maintaining a tenuous half-game advantage over the Mets for the second NL wild card. Despite Eugenio Suárez's 25th home run, the Diamondbacks could not withstand Houston's offensive barrage.
The Astros overcame a 3-1 deficit by scoring four runs in the fourth inning against Eduardo Rodriguez (2-2). Chas McCormick's two-run single tied the game, and Yordan Alvarez's RBI single gave Houston the lead. Alvarez has accumulated 13 RBIs and is batting 410 in his last ten games. He also recorded three hits.
"We failed to execute during critical moments on the mound," stated Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo. "We committed a few defensive errors." Only a few factors can be identified that will manifest themselves, as they did today, in the form of significant crooked statistics and a high score against a team of this caliber when you fail to perform at the level you are capable of.
Kikuchi, acquired from the Blue Jays at the trade deadline, has a 32.1% strikeout rate and a 3.07 ERA with the Astros. He has struck out a career-high 183 batters this season, despite being "hit around a little bit today."
Altuve, Alvarez, and Peña were the spearheads of the Astros' offense, operating at peak efficiency. Houston won with Peña's three-run home run in the sixth inning.
"That was the game's momentum," Astros manager Joe Espada stated. "Driving that ball the opposite way, which is not easy in this ballpark, to go oppo like that, but I thought overall our approach was good today offensively."
The Astros team showed an excellent offense game overall and gave good home runs to win the game.
