Astros Offense Goes Full Monster Mash. Devours the Twins 11-3

The offensive breakout we’ve all been expecting finally happened yesterday and today in this game that was suspended last night due to rain and continued this afternoon. The Astros exploded with 11 runs, fifteen hits, five doubles, two homers, and 25 total bases giving the Astros their second-biggest run production of the year.

The Twins actually drew first blood in inning one with a run following Max Kepler and Jorge Polanco doubles off Astros starter Jose Urquidy.

But the Astros took the lead in the second inning starting with singles by Yordan Alvarez and Yuli Gurriel. A Gary Sanchez passed ball put the runners at second and a third, followed by Jeremy Pena’s sacrifice fly scoring Alvarez, and then a Jose Siri single to score Gurriel.

The Astros added three more runs in the third starting with a lead-off homer to deep right field by Jose Altuve. Since returning from IL not including today, Altuve has a 1.237 OPS, a 268 wRC+, and four homers in 39 PAs.

Following the homer, Twins starter Chris Archer walked Michael Brantley, Alex Bregman, and with two outs, Kyle Tucker. Jeremy Pena then punched an outside, 3-2 slider into right field for a two-RBI single.

Astros defense is league-leading, but no one expects outstanding defensive performances from slugger Yordan Alvarez. But in the fourth inning Alvarez saved a run with this play.

The game was suspended by rain and resumed at 12:10 CT, 5-12-2022 with Jose Abreu assuming the mound for the Astros and Yennier Cano making his major league debut for the Twins. Both pitchers survived the fourth inning without allowing a run, but the Twins closed the gap in the fifth on a double and a sacrifice fly by Mark Contreras in his first MLB at-bat.

In the sixth inning, the Astros finally gave Cano a proper introduction to the big leagues with their second-biggest inning of the year starting when Kyle Tucker took a two-seamer just over the right-field wall.

Cano allowed two singles and then yielded the mound to Cody Stashak, who promptly allowed a two-RBI double to Jose Altuve, scoring Jose Siri and Martin Maldonado.

The double-fest continued with back-to-backers crushed by Michael Brantley and Alex Bregman respectively, scoring two more runs.

Yordan Alvarez wrecked the streak with a mere single. But with two- outs, Kyle Tucker, who started the inning with the homer, hit another double, scoring Bregman. The six-run sixth inning blew the game wide open, giving the Astros an 11-2 lead.

In the seventh inning, Astros reliever Phil Maton surrendered a run but limited the damage by stranding the bases loaded with one out.

In the eighth inning, Ryne Stanek likewise allowed the Twins to occupy all the bases but escaped without allowing a run.

Every Astros in the lineup got at least one hit, and six players got two hits. Bryan Abreu was the winning pitcher allowing one run in two innings with four strikeouts. The Twins actually hit pretty well themselves but stranded 12 runners.

Luis Garcia starts the second game of this twin bill for the Astros starting around 3 PM.

BOX SCORE and VIDEOS HERE.