Houston Astros win 12th game of Round of 16 with 5-3 victory over Toronto

TORONTO — It’s still early to track the standings, but the Astros’ movement is impossible to ignore. On June 19, they woke up 10 games behind the Mariners for first in the American League West. That deficit has narrowed considerably.

With a 5-3 win over the Blue Jays on Thursday, the Astros made it three wins in a four-game series in Toronto and continued their comeback late in the first half. Houston has won 12 of 14 games and six straight series. The team is 45-42 and, entering Thursday’s last outing, was 1½ games behind Seattle in the division.

Both starters had rough first innings. Five of Houston’s first six batters reached base against Toronto right-hander Chris Bassitt with three singles and two walks. Yainer Diaz hit a sacrifice fly. Jon Singleton hit a curveball for a two-run single. Bassitt needed 30 pitches to complete the inning.

Toronto responded against Framber Valdez. Five Blue Jays had hits in the bottom of the inning. Spencer Horwitz singled to drive in two runs. Alejandro Kirk doubled to score another run. Valdez escaped with help from Alex Bregman, who caught Ernie Clement’s line drive and walked third to double off Horwitz.

Valdez steadied himself, working five more scoreless innings despite his lack of sharpness or efficiency. The Astros failed to hit a hit in their next seven at-bats with men in scoring position after Singleton’s single. But Mauricio Dubón ended that drought with a two-out walk off Bassitt in the fifth inning to build a 4-3 lead.

Jeremy Peña closed out the series with a solo home run in the seventh inning, sending a changeup pitch from incoming Trevor Richards 380 feet to left field. After Valdez left the field, Tayler Scott, Ryan Pressly and Josh Hader each worked a scoreless inning to secure the series victory.

After a chaotic first inning, Valdez continued to throw into traffic for most of his outing. He managed to get out of it by forcing a season-high four double plays.

Double-play grounders helped Valdez work around a walk in the top of the third inning and a single in the top of the fourth. Alex Bregman, part of a standout defensive inning at third base, started a 5-3 double play on a pinch-hit home run by Ernie Clement that ended the fifth.

That allowed Valdez to keep his pitch count relatively manageable, though he allowed nine hits and two walks. Valdez gave up back-to-back singles to open the sixth inning, but retired his next three batters on a fly ball and two groundouts. He left the field after six innings and 90 pitches.

Scott, one of the highlights of the Astros’ first half of the season, has become a leverage option for manager Joe Espada. The right-hander allowed a tying single Wednesday that allowed an inherited runner to score, but he entered Thursday with a 1.48 ERA in 42 2/3 innings. He lowered it by working a scoreless seventh inning.

Pressly, who has had a rough first half of the season, pitched a clean eighth inning on 11 pitches to continue an encouraging streak. Over his last nine appearances, Pressly has posted 8 2/3 scoreless innings, with three hits and one walk allowed. His season ERA fell to 4.01.

Yordan Alvarez went 6-for-11 with three home runs in the first three games of the series. The Blue Jays appeared determined not to let Alvarez beat them in the final game. Alvarez was walked twice, including one intentionally, and was hit twice by pitches in five at-bats Thursday.

Alvarez’s intentional walk was the second of the series and it came at an intriguing time. He loaded the bases with two outs in the fourth inning of a 3-3 game. The Blue Jays opted to take a chance on Yainer Diaz, who had hit a two-run single after Toronto walked Alvarez to load the bases Wednesday.

This time, Bassitt got a fly ball from Diaz to break the deadlock. Houston worked Bassitt again, seeing 105 pitches from the right-hander in five innings. Astros hitters missed just five of 45 pitches against Bassitt and fouled off 20 more to force Toronto to turn to its bullpen in the sixth.

Genesis Cabrera hit Alvarez with a 97-mph fastball near the right hip in the sixth inning. Alvarez stared at Cabrera, who patted him on the chest in apology. In the ninth inning, Chad Green bounced a slider that hit Alvarez on the bottom of his right foot. Alvarez took first base without incident.