As I mentioned in the Game Preview, the Orioles led MLB in home runs coming into tonight, and they made sure they wouldn't lose that lead, crushing 6 long balls en route to a 13-5 victory.
The Orioles hit the ball well off Joe Musgrove all night, starting in the first inning. After getting Adam Jones to ground out, Hyun Soo Kim singled and Manny Machado doubled to put runners on 2nd and 3rd. Musgrove struck out Chris Davis looking, but with 2 outs, Mark Trumbo put the Orioles on the board with a 3-run blast to left center field.
The Astros quickly struck back in the top of the 2nd with back-to-back 2-out hits by Gattis (a single) and Reed (a double) to make it 3-1.
Unfortunately, Musgrove was never able to settle in tonight. The Orioles scored 2 more in the bottom of the 2nd on a sac fly by Adam Jones and a RBI single by Hyun Soo Kim to make it 5-1.
Altuve led off the 4th inning with a double and scored 2 outs later on Gattis' second single of the night to make it 5-2. The Orioles answered again with a 2-run homer by J.J. Hardy in the bottom half of the inning to push their lead to 7-2.
Alex Bregman provided one of the game's few feel-good moments with his second MLB home run, a solo shot to lead off the 6th and cut the lead to 7-3. However, the bottom of the 6th was when things got really ugly. After getting Jonathan Schoop to ground out, J.J. Hardy hit his second home run of the night to make it 8-3. A.J. Hinch replaced Musgrove with rookie reliever James Hoyt, who couldn't do any better than Musgrove. Hoyt gave up singles to the first two batters he faced followed by back-to-back home runs by Manny Machado and Chris Davis as the Orioles broke the game wide open 12-3.
Evan Gattis reached base for the third time, drawing a walk to lead off the 7th. In another bright spot, A.J. Reed followed with a 2-run homer to right field, the 3rd of his young big league career.
Luke Gregerson pitched a scoreless 7th and the Astros asked Tyler White to pitch the 8th. That's right, the 1B/DH/3B Tyler White can now be considered a 1B/DH/3B/P. He retired 3 of the 4 batters he faced, but gave up a solo home run to Chris Davis to give the Orioles a 13-5 lead.
The Astros went quietly in the top of the 9th and will try to regroup tomorrow and end their 5-game losing streak.