Houston Astros starting pitcher Yusei Kikuchi follows a pitch against the Arizona Diamondbacks during the first inning of a baseball game, Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024, in Houston.
11:17 JST, September 8, 2024
HOUSTON (AP) — Jose Altuve and Jeremy Peña hit home runs and the Houston Astros improved their record to 7-0 in games started by Yusei Kikuchi by beating the struggling Arizona Diamondbacks 11-5 on Saturday.
Altuve had three hits and scored three times. Peña’s 15th homer was a three-run shot, ending a five-run sixth inning that began with the Astros clinging to a one-run lead.
“It’s great to put runs on the board,” Peña said. “That’s what we try to do. I feel like when we have a lead, our pitching staff does a great job of finishing the game, so that’s what we try to do — put some runs on the board and let our pitching staff do their thing.”
Houston started the AL West with a 4 1/2 game lead over Seattle.
Arizona, which has lost three straight games and seven of 10, has a half-game lead over the second wild card in the National League.
Houston Astros starting pitcher Yusei Kikuchi throws against the Arizona Diamondbacks during the sixth inning of a baseball game on Saturday, September 7, 2024, in Houston.
Kikuchi (8-9) allowed four runs and seven hits in six innings. He struck out six, giving him a career-high 183 strikeouts this season.
“I took a few hits today,” Kikuchi said through an interpreter. “But I didn’t give away a walk and kept the team in the game, so I’m happy about that.”
The left-handed pitcher has a 3.07 ERA since transferring to the Astros from the Toronto Blue Jays on July 29, with a strikeout rate of 32.1%.
Kevin Newman hit a home run off Kikuchi in the fourth inning to give Arizona a 3-1 lead, but Houston scored four runs off Eduardo Rodriguez in the bottom half.
Rodriguez (2-2) faced 10 batters and needed 47 pitches to get through the inning. Houston loaded the bases without a hit, and Chas McCormick tied the game with a two-run single. Yordan Alvarez’s two-out RBI single put the Astros ahead and, on an error, Alex Bregman ended the series with a bases-loaded walk.
“We didn’t perform at some key times on the mound,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said. “We made some mistakes defensively. There’s just a few things we can point to that will show up, like today, with big numbers and a big score against a team like this when you’re not playing at the level you’re capable of playing.”
Alvarez has three hits and a .410 batting average with 13 RBIs in his last 10 games.
Eugenio Suárez hit his 25th home run in the sixth inning to move Arizona just one point closer, but the Astros broke the game open with the help of Peña’s three-run drive into the Houston bullpen in right-center field.
“That was the swing of the game,” Astros manager Joe Espada said. “Hitting that ball the other way, which is not easy in this ballpark, to hit the opponent like that, but I thought our approach offensively was really good today.”
Dylan Floro got all five runs for Houston in the sixth inning.
Rodriguez gave up five runs, four earned, and seven hits in four innings with one strikeout.
