Royals come on top in nail-biter game, beat Astros 7-6

On Monday night, there were hits and runs back and forth at Kauffman Stadium to begin a four-game series. The Astros were ahead by a run in the sixth inning, but their bullpen was ambushed by the Royals, who won 7-6in a hard game to watch for Astros fans.

Houston scored in the first thanks to a lead-off double from José Altuve’s bat and a Yordan Álvarez RBI single. But their joy didn’t last. Starter Jake Odorizzi wasn’t as sharp as he was in his most recent performance and, this time, he allowed eight hits and four earned runs over 5 1/3 innings against the last-place Royals.

And it could’ve been worse had the Astros not saved two runs with outs at home plate,

Odorizzi and the ‘Astros somehow made it a tied game after five episodes. Red-hot Aledmys Díaz extended his hitting streak to eight games with a solo shot while Michael Brantley got a one-run single.

Right in the sixth inning, Carlos Correa put the team ahead with a 430-feet massive four-bagger, his longest long ball of the campaign. The Royals tied the score once again in the bottom sixth with a solo shot by Hunter Dozier.

Then, Ryne Stanek and Yimi García got in trouble and everything fell apart for Houston. Stanek surrendered a run in the seventh. In García’s case, he lost the game (3-8) after giving up three hits and two earned runs in the bottom eighth. He had not surrendered a run in five prior appearances in August.

The Astros tried to come back via Aledmys and Jason Castro, who drove in their final run of the game with his fourth home run of the season. But it was just too late: Scott Barlow was brought into the game and got the final five outs for the Royals.

Houston will give it another try on Tuesday with Framber Valdez on the mound — the lefty has won three of his last four outings. The game starts at 7:10 pm CT. Youngster Daniel Lynch will have the ball for the Royals.

RED HOT

Now, Aledmys Díaz is 14-for-42 with three doubles, six runs batted in, and a pretty good batting average of .333. Even better: Díaz came into Monday’s game slashing .338/.366/.544 in in 16 games since he came back from the injured list.

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