Alex Bregman and Chas McCormick homered in the second inning while Brandon Bielak pitched effectively into the sixth as the Houston Astros topped the visiting Minnesota Twins 5-1 on Tuesday.
The Astros improved to 15-4 over their last 19 games and evened this three-game series by pouncing on Twins right-hander Joe Ryan (7-2) via their second-inning power surge.
Bielak (2-2) yielded one run, three hits and three walks over 5 2/3 innings while striking out six.
Christian Vazquez had two of Minnesota’s six hits and drove in its only run.
Ryan cruised through the bottom of the first without incident, striking out Jeremy Pena and Yordan Alvarez in succession to cap that frame. But Bregman opened the second with his seventh home run, lifting an 0-2 sweeper 357 feet and out to left field for a homer that would not have cleared the fence in the 29 other ballparks in the majors, according to Baseball Savant.
That dinger marked the first allowed by Ryan in his last seven starts.
Four batters later, McCormick delivered a titanic, 417-foot blast to left-center that left no doubt of its legitimacy. McCormick drove home Corey Julks with his fourth homer and extended the lead to 3-0.
Bregman touched up Ryan again an inning later, delivering an RBI single to left that plated Pena and pushed the lead to 4-0. Ryan issued a walk to Kyle Tucker that loaded the bases and barely sidestepped catastrophe when Jose Abreu followed with a deep drive to right that Max Kepler snared with a leaping grab at the wall.
Instead of his fifth career grand slam, Abreu settled for a sacrifice fly that drove home Alvarez as the Astros stretched their advantage to 5-0.
Ryan worked a season-low four innings while allowing season highs in runs (five) and walks (three). He surrendered four hits and struck out six.
Bielak breezed through his first four innings of work, walking Alex Kirilloff in the second and Joey Gallo in the third to account for his lone baserunners. Bielak did allow a leadoff double to Royce Lewis in the fifth, and Lewis eventually scored when Vazquez delivered a two-out RBI single that sliced the deficit to four runs.
When Bielak found trouble again in the sixth inning by placing runners on the corners with two outs, Astros reliever Phil Maton cleaned up the mess with a strikeout of Lewis.
The Twins finished 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position and stranded nine baserunners.
–Field Level Media
