Houston, TX—-Hunter Brown delivered six dominant innings, Yordan Álvarez blasted a homer and drove in two, and the Houston Astros rolled past the Boston Red Sox 9-2 on Tuesday night, extending their winning streak to four games.
Brown (1-0) yielded just one run while fanning eight across his six-inning outing; the lone hit off him was Connor Wong’s double in the fifth that plated Marcelo Mayer. Cody Bolton worked the final three innings, striking out five and recording his first career save.
Álvarez and utilityman Cam Smith each launched solo homers for Houston. Álvarez, Christian Walker and Carlos Correa finished with two hits and two RBIs apiece, while Smith added a pair of knocks as well.
Boston’s offense managed only one other run, a solo shot by Ceddanne Rafaela, and the club struck out 13 times. Starter Brayan Bello (0-1) was removed with two outs in the fifth after surrendering five earned runs on eight hits, walking three and striking out two.
The Astros struck quickly in the first when Jeremy Peña’s single set up Álvarez’s run-scoring double. Houston pushed the advantage to 3-0 in the third on a two-run single by Walker after an RBI Correa double followed a Jose Altuve walk.
After Wong’s fifth-inning RBI double pulled Boston within 3-1, Álvarez answered with a fifth-inning solo shot to restore a three-run lead. Houston added insurance later in the inning when Joey Loperfido drove in Correa and Walker scored on a Wong throwing error, making it 6-1.
Correa added a two-run single in the sixth off Ryan Watson to make it 8-1. Smith’s solo homer in the seventh and Rafaela’s eighth-inning long ball closed out the scoring at 9-2. The loss marked Boston’s fourth in a row.
