Cooper Hummel slugged an opposite-field home run in the bottom of the eighth inning, and the host Houston Astros claimed a 1-0 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies in the opener of a three-game interleague series on Tuesday.
Hummel ruined the shutout bid of Phillies left-hander Ranger Suarez (6-2) with his second home run this season. He drilled a 3-2 cutter 390 feet into the home bullpen in right-center field to break the scoreless tie.
Astros closer Josh Hader recorded his 20th save in the ninth. Astros reliever Bryan Abreu (2-3) earned the win with a perfect eighth.
Suarez was exceptional. He needed only 27 pitches to complete one trip through the Houston lineup and didn’t allow a baserunner until he issued a one-out walk to Isaac Paredes in the fourth. Suarez followed by snagging a soft liner from Jose Altuve before doubling Paredes off first.
The Astros fashioned a serious threat in the sixth when Yainer Diaz and Hummel opened that frame with back-to-back hits. Suarez responded by inducing Mauricio Dubon to roll into a double play, and he stranded runners on the corners with a called third strike against Paredes. Suarez stranded another runner in the seventh and returned for the eighth with 91 pitches on his ledger.
His 99th pitch of the game was his undoing. Suarez allowed one run on four hits and two walks with seven strikeouts over 7 2/3 innings.
Astros left-hander Framber Valdez matched zeroes with Suarez before departing after the seventh.
Valdez worked around two baserunners in the top of the first and stranded two more in the second. He walked Kyle Schwarber to open the third but erased him by inducing the first of two inning-ending double plays, this one off the bat of Nick Castellanos.
In the fourth, Valdez found himself in another pickle when Edmundo Sosa smacked a one-out double to left immediately after Otto Kemp reached on a fielding error by Christian Walker at first base. But Valdez again buckled down to strand a pair and keep his shutout bid intact.
The fifth inning was the only frame in which Valdez retired the side in order. He got Sosa to ground into an inning-ending double play in the sixth and stranded Trea Turner in the seventh by getting Schwarber to roll a harmless ground ball to Dubon at second.
Valdez allowed four hits and four walks with three strikeouts over seven scoreless innings.
–Field Level Media
