Rookies win the day as the Astros beat the Blue Jays 7-2

The Astros continued to unload on the Toronto Blue Jays, winning Saturday’s game 7-2 to secure the series win and extending their streak of not losing a series that dates back to May 2^nd. And most notably, today’s win was powered largely by the rookies.

On a day where the top of the lineup was relatively quiet, going 1-10 (Alex Bregman contributed an RBI single and a walk, while Michael Brantley was hit by a pitch), the other two-thirds managed to come up big. Leading the way were Yordan Álvarez and Jack Mayfield, two recent call-ups who have gone in very different directions since arriving at The Show. Yordan has of course made a huge splash, and he came up big again today. His upper deck home run in the third marked his fourth home run in his first five games, and he added two singles to that for back-to-back 3-4 games all while starting his first game in the field.

Mayfield, meanwhile, has struggled the last few weeks, but came through in a big way today. His three doubles on the day tied an Astros rookie record, and he drove in one (the game’s first, in fact) while coming around to score three times. Hopefully it marks a turning point for him. Fellow rookie Myles Straw drove him in twice with a double and a single while scoring once himself across four at bats.

Of course, Framber Valdez (who still retains his rookie status) also threw a strong game, going six innings and allowing two runs while striking out eight. He couldn’t duplicate his no-walk start against the Orioles, but he did limit the free passes to just two while allowing only four singles and largely keeping the ball on the ground (including the impressive first out of the game, which took off Framber’s hat before Bregman recorded the out).

As for other performances of note: Garrett Stubbs contributed yet another rookie RBI on a ground out, while Josh Reddick added a second non-rookie one on a solo shot in the sixth. Tyler White also chipped in, going 2-3 with a double, a walk, and a run scored.

On the pitching side of things, Chris Devesnki faced the minimum over two innings and 19 pitches, striking out two and inducing a double play to erase Eric Sogard after he reached on a bunt single in the eighth. He was denied the automatic three-inning save by Josh James, who allowed a ground ball single but otherwise had a quick ninth.

Today’s win moves the Astros up to 48-23 on the year, 10 games ahead of the Rangers at the moment and still tied with the Twins for best record in the majors. Houston will go for the sweep against Toronto tomorrow on Fathers Day, with Brad Peacock going up against Trent Thornton. First pitch is at 1:10 PM CST.