*Photo from Field Level Media*
Jon Singleton homered and drove in two runs, Yordan Alvarez homered twice, and the Houston Astros defeated the Kansas City Royals with a 7-2 victory Sunday afternoon in Houston.
The Astros won their 5th straight game with the win, completing a 4 game sweep of the Royals in the process. It was a big turnaround for the Astros after being swept by the Royals in April, plus Alvarez snapped a 105 plate appearance home run drought at home.
Astros manager Joe Espada said of the sweep "They kicked our butts early in the season in Kansas City when we were not playing our best. But that’s why you play 162 and we are a different club. We’re getting closer to our goal and we’re playing with a different type of intensity and focus and we demonstrated that this series."
After a scoreless first 3 innings, Alvarez hit a solo home run in the 4th to make it 1-0 Astros. Singleton followed that up with a two run shot to right field, tripling the lead to 3-0. In the top of the 6th, Yuli Gurriel got the Royals on the board with an RBI single before another solo home run by Alvarez in the bottom of the inning made it a 4-1 game.
Alvarez said of snapping his home homer drought "When I hit the ball, there was a stress that just left me. Obviously, it had been a while. I hadn’t been hitting the ball hard for homers here, so I hit that one, and then came the other one and almost a third one came. Hopefully, that bad streak is gone now."
Bobby Witt Jr responded for the Royals in the 7th inning, hitting a solo home run to left field to trim the deficit to 4-2. In the 8th, Yainer Diaz made it a 5-2 Astros lead with a double that scored Mauricio Dubon. Diaz and Jose Altuve then scored on a single up the middle by Jeremy Pena, making it a 7-2 final score.
Ronel Blanco pitched 5 shutout innings in his start for the Astros, striking out 3 hitters. Tayler Scott gave up a run in the 6th and Hector Neris did the same in the 7th before Bryan Abreu and Kaleb Ort each pitched a scoreless inning to seal the win.
Alec Marsh gave up 3 runs while striking out 5 hitters in 5 innings in his start for the Royals. Sam Long allowed a run in the 6th before Carlos Hernandez delivered a scoreless 7th. John Schreiber got one out and allowed 3 runs in the 8th, requiring Chris Stratton to come in and finish the inning.
Kansas City manager Matt Quatraro said of being swept "The whole series was frustrating. We didn’t come out of here with any wins. That’s what we play for is to win every day. That stinks. These guys are good. We knew that coming in, but I can’t sum it all up in one. Every game was different. We were in every game. They pitched extremely well. They got big hits, and we didn’t."
The Astros hit the road and start a series against the Cincinnati Reds Monday afternoon, with Justin Verlander getting the series opening start. The Royals host the Cleveland Guardians Monday afternoon, with Michael Wacha getting the start as they try to snap their losing streak.
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