Astros win series against Rangers behind Urquidy’s 10 strikeouts

The Astros keep dominating the Rangers. On Saturday afternoon, they won with a 5-2 score thanks to a stellar pitching performance from José Urquidy, who tied a career-high in strikeouts with 10. Offensively, the Astros enjoyed productive extra-base hits from the heart of their lineup to back up Urquidy’s strong showing.

Urquidy, who K’d 10 hitters for the second time in his career, worked 6 2/3 innings and got his fourth win of the season. In his longest start of 2022, the young righty surrendered six hits and one earned run (solo homer), with one walk given up. His ERA lowered from 4.81 to 4.24. Now, the Astros are 16-5 in May but, most importantly, they finished the week in first place.

For his career, Urquidy is now 7-1 with a 2.95 across 103 2/3 innings pitching at Minute Maid Park.

Speaking of extra-bases, José Altuve launched his fifth lead-off home run of the year to break the tie in first place with former teammate George Springer. It was his ninth long ball of the campaign and the eighth in 18 games during May.

In the third inning, Alex Bregman brought in the Astros’ second run with his 10th double, his first XBH since May 13. Later, in the fifth and with Houston up in the score 2-1, Yordan Álvarez and Yuli Gurriel hit doubles to make it 3-1 and 4-1. Lastly, Jeremy Peña hit an RBI single in the eighth to put things 5-1.

In pitching terms, Rafael Montero had another good appearance on the mound and is yet to allow an earned run in May after nine outings. Montero recorded just one out (strikeout) and now has 7 1/3 innings of zero earned runs throughout this month. Ryne Stanek, Blake Taylor (allowed one run), Ryan Pressly followed Montero.

On Monday, the Astros will meet the Guardians for the first time in 2022 to begin a three-game series. Although Cleveland is yet to announce its starter, Luis García will take the ball for Houston.

VIDEOS AND BOX SCORE HERE.