The Astros sweep the Colorado Rockies, with a 7-1 win on Wednesday afternoon at Minute Maid Park. They are .500 for the first time this season at 40-40 on the year.
The Astros effort was anchored by seven dominant, scoreless innings on the mound by starting pitcher Spencer Arrighetti. He struck out 10 Rockies hitters, while allowing only three hits. He did not surrender a walk.
The Astros offense was a little slow to get going on Wednesday, as Colorado starter Ryan Feltner kept them scoreless through the first three innings of the game. However, in the bottom of the fourth, Yainer Diaz would get them on the board, with an RBI single to right field and bring home Jose Altuve.
In the fifth, it was Altuve helping out with an RBI single to left field, which brought home catcher Cesar Salazar. They would keep the game at a 2-0 lead until the bottom of the seventh inning.
After the seventh inning stretch, the Astros got a lead off single from first baseman Jonathan Singleton against Feltner. Shortstop Jeremy Pena singled to center field and ended Feltner's day on the mound. Rockies manager Bud Black would bring on righthander Tyler Kinley to face lefthanded hitting Joey Loperfido. He would hit Loperfido with a pitch to load the bases. Cesar Salazar would bring home pinch runner Mauricio Dubon with a RBI sacrifice fly and make it a 3-0 Astros lead.
Jose Altuve made it a 4-0 lead, after reaching on a fielder's choice by Ezequiel Tovar, after he tried throwing out Pena at home. Alex Bregman brought home the Astro's fifth run, with a throwing error by Rockies second baseman Brendan Rodgers on an attempted double play to bring home Loperfido.
Yordan Alvarez kept the inning alive, with a ground-rule double to left. Diaz drove in his second run of the game to make it 6-0 Astros, with a RBI single to center field.
Astros manager Joe Espada would go to the bullpen and bring in Shawn Dubin for the eughth inning. He would walk Nolan Jones to start the inning. Jake Cave reached on a ground-rule double to get Jones over to third base. Dubin would strike out Elehuris Montero looking for the first out. He would get Brenton Doyle to fly out to Jake Meyers in center field, that brought home Jones on an RBI sacrifice fly to make it 6-1 Astros. The Astros reliever would strike out Ezequiel Tovar swinging to end the eighth.
The Astros added their seventh and final run of the game in the bottom of the eighth. Jeremy Pena brought home Mauricio Dubon with an RBI single to center field.
In the ninth, lefthander Bryan King came on for his second major league appearance. He would strike out both Ryan McMahon and Brendan Rodgers swinging. Michael Toglia grounded out to Jeremy Pena at short to end the game.
Spencer Arrighetti picks up his fourth win of the season (4-6) and lowered his ERA to 5.68. Ryan Feltner takes the loss (1-7).
The Astros are off on Thursday. They will start a weekend road series with the Mets in New York. We will have Astros On-Deck, Presented by Xfinity starting at 5:00 pm on SportsTalk 790.