Brice Matthews hit a go-ahead two-run homer in the eighth inning, Framber Valdez won his 10th straight decision and the Houston Astros earned a 3-1 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Tuesday in Phoenix.
Matthews followed a one-out walk to pinch hitter Taylor Trammell with a 396-foot homer to left field off Jake Woodford (0-1) for a 2-1 lead. Matthews, playing his sixth major league game, hit his first two career homers on Monday as Houston won the opener of the three-game series.
Valdez (11-4) gave up one run and seven hits in seven innings to extend the majors’ longest active winning streak. He has not lost since May 2, and the Astros have won all 13 of his starts since. He struck out four and walked one.
Valdez tied Detroit’s Tarik Skubal for the longest winning streak in the majors this season.
The Diamondbacks loaded the bases with no outs in the ninth on singles by Josh Naylor, pinch hitter James McCann and Geraldo Perdomo off Bryan King. However, King rebounded to strike out Blaze Alexander, then got Jose Herrera to ground into a double play started by second baseman Matthews for his first career save.
Randal Grichuk and Perdomo had three hits apiece for the D-backs, who lost their second straight game after a four-game winning streak.
Grichuk scored Arizona’s only run against Valdez. In the fifth inning, Grichuk led off with his second double of the night, took third on Perdomo’s bunt single and came home on Alexander’s groundout.
Jose Altuve, Christian Walker, Yainer Diaz and Mauricio Dubon had two hits apiece for the Astros, who have won three straight.
Altuve singled and scored on a bases-loaded wild pitch by Kyle Backhus to make it 3-1 in the ninth.
Arizona starter Eduardo Rodriguez gave up six hits, all singles, in 6 1/3 scoreless innings, the first time he had taken a shutout into the seventh inning this season. He struck out three and walked three.
Rodriguez was forced out of the game with one out in the seventh when he was struck in the right leg by Zack Short’s one-hopper that caromed toward third base and went for an infield single.
The Astros have won the first two games of the three-game series, giving them their first series victory since sweeping the Los Angeles Dodgers from July 4-6.
–Field Level Media
