Jon Singleton hit a home run and drove in three runs, while Jose Altuve collected three hits to lead the Houston Astros to an 8-2 victory over the Cleveland Guardians on Thursday evening.
This win marks the first time this season that the Astros, currently at the bottom of the AL West with an 11-20 record, have won back-to-back series.
“It’s all about winning series,” stated manager Joe Espada. “That’s the focus we have right now. We still have plenty of baseball left, and that’s the mentality I want our team to have — just win series. If we can do that, when we reflect back, these tough times will just be a distant memory.”
In the sixth inning, with Houston trailing 2-1 and one out, Jeremy Peña hit a triple that bounced off the glove of center fielder Gabriel Arias. With two outs, Singleton smashed a pitch from Logan Allen (3-2) into the right-field stands, giving the Astros a 3-2 lead.
Singleton has been playing first base in the last three games due to the struggles of veteran José Abreu, who has been sent to Houston’s spring training facility to work on improving his performance.
“I’m feeling quite confident, and with each opportunity I get, I feel more prepared for what lies ahead,” Singleton commented.
Singleton hit two home runs this week. He hit his only two home runs of 2023 in one game on August 11. He also made a great play in the sixth inning when he grabbed a grounder hit by Arias and stretched into the splits to catch the throw to first base.
In the seventh inning, Jake Meyers hit a triple to start, and Houston increased their lead to 4-2 when Altuve singled and drove Meyers home.
Houston scored another run when Peña was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. Diaz hit a two-run single with one out in the inning, and Singleton made it 8-2 with a sacrifice fly.
In his fourth major league start, Houston’s Spencer Arrighetti pitched a career-long 5 2/3 innings, allowing four hits and two runs. Tayler Scott (1-1) pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings for his first career win.
Andrés Giménez hit an RBI double, and Will Brennan had three hits for the AL Central-leading Guardians, who lost their second straight series after losing two of three to Atlanta.
“I thought tonight we were a little flat, expectedly,” said manager Stephen Vogt. “It’s been a long trip, a lot of close games. But it’s not an excuse. We need to play better than we did tonight, and we all know that.”
Allen gave up seven hits and three runs — two earned — in 5 2/3 innings. Giménez gave the Guardians an early lead with his RBI double in the third inning. Steven Kwan avoided the tag at home on a sacrifice fly by José Ramírez to make it 2-0.
Singleton scored on a passed ball by Bo Naylor with two outs in the third inning. Houston’s Yordan Alvarez went 0 for 5 with three strikeouts on Thursday, extending his slump to 0 for 17 since hitting two home runs last Saturday against the Rockies in Mexico City.
