Houston strikes three and Blanco rolls to the mound as Astros win Game 2 (updated)

HOUSTON – Right-hander Corbin Burnes had been everything the O’s hoped for this year and maybe more. He made 10 straight quality starts in today’s outing and his 2.14 ERA ranked tied for first in the American League and third in the major leagues.

And today, it’s not like the Houston Astros hit him that hard. But they did something no other team could do against him this year. They had him for two homers.

That led Houston, which also benefited from a solid pitching effort from right-hander Ronel Blanco, to beat the Orioles 5-1 today at Minute Maid Park in front of 37,107 people.

The Birds, now 49-27, would suffer a sweep with a loss tomorrow. From 2016-19, the Orioles went 1-11 in Houston. But since the 2021 season, they were 7-2 at Minute Maid Park entering this series.

The O’s offense has slowed down after putting up 28 points in the previous two games, 35 in the last three and 51 in the last six. The O’s started today leading the majors scoring 5.35 runs per game.

Against Blanco, who threw a no-hitter on April 1 – the first no-hitter in major league history – the Orioles took a 1-0 lead today.

Jordan Westburg, born in New Braunfels, Texas, about 175 miles west of Houston, hit a solo home run against Blanco in the O’s second inning. Westburg hit an 0-1 fastball to the back of the Crawford Boxes in left field, 380 feet deep, for his 12th home run of the season.

That outburst gave the Orioles a club record: one home run in 21 consecutive games, breaking that team’s tie with the Orioles from July 17 to August. 9, 1998. During the O’s 20-game streak in 2024 with long ball coming today, they had gone 13-7, hit 44 home runs and scored 6.3 runs per game.

The major league record is 31 in a row with a home run, set by the 2019 New York Yankees.

But the Birds’ initial lead didn’t survive the inning as Houston tied it 1-1 on a Mauricio Dubón sac fly in the half. Yainer Diaz led off the inning with a liner to right for a triple, just out of reach of right fielder Colton Cowser. He scored on the fly ball.

Another ball, a little deeper, gave Houston a 3-1 lead in the third at home against Burnes.

Yordan Alvarez crushed a two-run homer 420 feet from center for a two-run lead. He hit No. 16 on a changeup that was weak but found too much of the middle of the plate. Alvarez hammered him with a 106.7 exit velocity and Houston had the lead.

Chas McCormack, batting ninth, had his fifth career two-homer day for Houston, hitting one off Burnes and the other off Bryan Baker.

McCormack’s shot to left in the fifth against Burnes made it a 4-1 lead as he hammered a cutter with an exit velocity of 110.2 mph. He took Baker to right field, just above Cowser, in the eighth for a 5-1 margin.

Burnes is now 8-3 and his ERA is up to 2.35. He pitched seven innings and allowed five hits and four runs with no walks and five strikeouts. Burnes threw 90 pitches.

His streak of quality starts ended just short of Jim Palmer’s club record of 12 straight in 1975. Burnes had allowed just two home runs in his final eight starts and 51 1/3 innings until that Houston gets it today.

Blanco improved to 8-2 with a 2.34 ERA after his 98-pitch outing. He allowed just four hits and one run in seven innings. His first appearance against the Orioles marked the seventh time this year that he threw 98 or more pitches.

Gunnar Henderson went hitless today, 0 for 3 as the Houston outfield made some good plays against him. But he walked in the first inning. This extended his streak of games in which he reached a career-high 29 consecutive games. It’s the longest run by an Oriole since Nick Markakis arrived on base in 38 straight from July 5-August 5. 18, 2009.

Houston (37-40) has now won 11 of its last 17 series, going 30-21 in those 51 games.

Manager Brandon Hyde on Burnes in seven, which was big: “With this streak we’re in with a tired pen, he’s gone seven innings for us. It definitely gave us a good chance to win. I had good things. Just a few locations you want to find.

Hyde, was a bad day or a bad series inevitable? : “I think our guys worked hard and we met a good starter and a good team. And they started Pressly and Hader at the end. They beat us today.”

Burnes felt he was throwing well but two pitches beat him: “Absolutely. I threw the ball really well today. Which is kind of funny to say when you’re down 5-1 and you’ve given up four runs. But just coming out of the game and looking at it briefly. in terms of command, it’s kind of the best we’ve been As far as things go, we haven’t been better Two errors that we left on the plate that they hit. It’s a 1-1 game in the seventh.”

Burnes, has a rough streak finally caught up with the Orioles? : “I don’t think so. We knew coming into this stretch what it was going to look like. We did a good job of playing good baseball and getting days when you need it. You saw the fight we had yesterday tonight to get back into this game tonight we played a guy with one of the best numbers in the league and he threw the ball well. You’re going to run into guys like that where it’s hard to get anything going. thing.

“But I thought we played some good baseball. We’ll go out and save the series tomorrow and go home and play some good baseball.

Westburg for hitting a home run in his home state. Did this make sense to him? : “Of course. In the moment. But all I want to do is win and it’s a disappointing loss, it’s a frustrating loss. So. Yeah, it was cool in the moment but it was faded pretty quickly on this one. Every loss stings.

Westburg on the team played pretty well during a tough June stretch: “I think we’re playing good baseball. It’s easy to overreact in the first two games of a series. But we’re playing 162 and losing is inevitable. In a time like June, losing is never OK, but it’s expected at some point. We can’t be perfect and can’t go 162-0. I just think we’ll take it one day at a time and tackle the next game on the schedule. series.”