Jake Meyers hit a two-run homer and Jeremy Peña’s three-run homer in the fifth inning gave the Houston Astros a 5-4 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday night, extending their season-long winning streak to six games.
Houston was down by 2 runs when Victor Caratini singled to start the fifth, Jose Altuve followed with a single on an infield grounder, and Peña hit a slider from Freddy Peralta into the left-field seats for a 5-4 lead.
The Astros have won eight of their last nine games, bouncing back from a rough start to the season and moving into third place in the AL West.
“We’re feeling good,” Peña said. “We’ve always believed in ourselves since the beginning. We have a great team. We’ve got the necessary pieces and we’re slowly putting it back together.”
Hunter Brown (1-4) gave up four runs and four hits while walking three in five innings for his first win since Sept. 13. He had been 0-6 in his last nine starts.
Milwaukee had runners on first and second with two outs in the seventh, but Rafael Montero struck out William Contreras to end the threat.
The Brewers threatened again in the eighth with two on and two outs, but Bryan Abreu struck out Sal Frelick to shut them down. Josh Hader pitched a scoreless ninth for his sixth save in seven chances.
“I see a team that is playing with urgency,” manager Joe Espada said. “We’ve got edge to our game on both sides of the ball. You could see the swag, you could feel the energy and it’s time for us to pick it up.”
Peralta (3-2) allowed five runs and eight hits in five innings. Jake Bauers hit a solo shot and Joey Ortiz had three hits, including a three-run homer in the fourth for the Brewers, who had their two-game winning streak snapped.
Bauers sent his towering shot off into the second deck in right field to put Milwaukee up 1-0 in the second inning.
