The Houston Astros continued their West Coast trip with a three-game series against the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park this weekend. The Giants, who entered the series with the best record in Major League Baseball, won 5-3 on Sunday to take the series in a possible World Series preview. The Astros won the first game on Friday night 9-6 before dropping Saturday’s game 8-6 and the series finale as well. They will now have a day off on Monday before returning to action on Tuesday with a short two-game series in Los Angeles against the Dodgers. As we wait for that series to begin, let’s go back and look at the series against the Giants.
Game One
The Astros took the opening game of this series with a 9-6 win on Friday night. The Astros got big games from Jose Altuve and Aledmys Diaz. Altuve went off as he went 3 for 6 with two home runs including a grand slam, six RBI, and three runs scored. Altuve’s slam was sweet for him and the Astros, as he put a hush to the Giant’s crowd who was screaming at him “You’re a cheater!” Diaz was 2 for 5, with a solo home run, two RBI, and two runs scored. Framber Valdez (7-2) got the win as he went 5 innings and allowed two runs, on four hits, with six strikeouts. The Astros got to Giants starter Kevin Gausman (9-5) who took the loss by making him throw 43 pitches in the first inning. He ended up pitching 4 ⅓ innings and allowed three runs, on six hits, with nine strikeouts.
Game Two
The Astros would drop game two of the series 8-6 in a back and forth game that featured eight home runs. They would fall behind 1-0 in the second inning but went up on top2-1 in the third with a two-run shot by Diaz. Two Giants errors led to Michael Brantley scoring for a 3-1 Astros lead. The lead would be short-lived as Zach Greinke gave up a solo home run to Wilmer Flores in the bottom of the third for the Giants to tie the score at 3. Lamonte Wade Jr. would break the tie the following inning as he took Greinke deep for a two-run shot to give the Giants the lead 5-3. The Astros would tie the game in the top half of the fifth when Diaz hit his second home run of the afternoon and Yuli Gurriel doubled to bring in Brantley.
Darren Ruff would put the Giants ahead again 6-5 with a solo shot in the bottom of the fifth and Martin Maldonado would tie the game up one more time at 6-6 with his solo shot in the top half of the sixth. The Giants would take the lead for good in the bottom half of the inning with a Brandon Crawford single that made it 7-6. Mike Yastrzemski would add a solo shot of his own in the bottom of the eighth to make it 8-6.
Game Three
The Astros would get out to an early lead but it would not be enough as they would drop the final game of the series 5-3. Gurriel would hit a two-run homer in the top of the first to give the Astros the early lead. The Giants would take the lead in their half of the 3rd as Kris Bryant, who came over in a trade with the Chicago Cubs, got his first hit as a Giant, a solo home run to make the score 2-1. Crawford would hit a single to score Yastrzemski and tie it at 2-2. Ruff would follow with a single of his own to score Buster Posey to give the Giants the lead. The Giants would add two more runs in the fifth on a Ruff two-run homer. The Astros would add a run in the top of the eighth when Kyle Tucker grounded into a double play to bring in Yordan Alvarez to make the final score 5-3. Luis Garcia (7-6) started for the Astros and went 4 ⅔ innings allowing five runs, on eight hits, striking out seven, and allowing two walks. Logan Webb (5-3) got the win for the Giants allowing two runs on seven hits with three strikeouts in six innings of work.