Yainer Diaz clubbed his first career grand slam and produced a career-high five RBIs as the Houston Astros thumped the visiting Los Angeles Angels 14-3 Friday night in the opener of a three-game series.
The Astros sent 20 batters to the plate across the fifth and sixth innings and totaled 10 runs in those frames. Diaz landed the decisive blow in the six-run fifth when he greeted Angels reliever Garrett McDaniels with a 382-foot shot to left-center field that extended Houston’s lead to 7-2.
The Astros chased Angels right-hander Jack Kochanowicz (1-1) when five consecutive batters reached with two outs in the fifth. Yordan Alvarez and Christian Walker delivered consecutive RBI singles that staked Houston to a 3-2 lead before Jeremy Pena walked to load the bases.
Facing a 1-1 count, Diaz drilled a sinker into the Crawford Boxes for his first home run this season. An inning later, Diaz contributed to the Astros’ four-run frame with a run-scoring double that scored Walker and lifted Houston to a 10-2 lead. Earlier in the inning, Isaac Paredes scored on a Michael Darrell-Hicks wild pitch and Pena drove in Alvarez with a sacrifice fly to deep left-center.
Diaz scored when rookie Cam Smith laced a double to right-center. Diaz finished 3-for-5 while Smith socked his first career homer in the eighth, a two-run shot to left-center off Ian Anderson. Paredes notched his first home run of the season in the eighth and, like Diaz, recorded a three-hit game.
Jake Meyers, Alvarez, Walker and Smith also posted multi-hit games for Houston.
The offensive onslaught provided Astros right-hander Ronel Blanco (1-1) the support he needed to secure his first win of the season. Blanco allowed two runs on four hits and one walk with seven strikeouts over five innings.
Mike Trout erased the Astros’ 1-0 lead with a leadoff blast to left-center in the fourth, his sixth home run this season. Blanco induced an inning-ending double play from Nolan Schanuel to cap the fourth, but surrendered consecutive hits to Kyren Paris (double) and Jo Adell (single) to open the fifth. Adell’s RBI single gave the Angels a brief 2-1 lead.
Kochanowicz surrendered six earned runs in 4 2/3 innings. He allowed six hits and three walks while garnering just one strikeout.
–Field Level Media
