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Cristian Javier dazzles AGAIN! Astros top Guardians 2-1

With a solid performance from the Dominican righty, Houston won the three-game series against Cleveland.

Cleveland Guardians v Houston Astros Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images

Cristian Javier was wonderful on the mound once again, this time to defeat the Guardians 2-1 on Wednesday night. The 25-year-old Dominican fired 5 2/3 scoreless innings and the Astros won the three-game series against Cleveland. Offensively, two sacrifice flies made it for Houston.

The now full-time starter Javier got his third win of the campaign (3-2) in fashion, allowing only three hits, giving up one walk, and punching out nine hitters. Javier struck out the side in order in the second inning: Josh Naylor, Andrés Giménez, and Ernie Clement. He threw 96 pitches, 63 of them being strikes.

Speaking of how good Javier was on Wednesday, he got 20 whiffs out of 51 swings (39%), the second-highest mark of his career – his personal best so far is 21, going back to April 4, 2021.

In his last two starts (vs Rangers and Guardians), Javier has thrown 11 2/3 innings of six hits, one earned run, two walks, and 18 strikeouts. The righty is certainly earning the right to remain a starter in the long run for Houston.

In terms of offense, there wasn’t much going on for the ‘Stros. In the fifth, José Sirí kicked off the inning with his fourth double and José Altuve followed with a single. Then, Michael Brantley brought in Sirí with a sacrifice fly.

In the sixth, the Astros began the inning on base after Yordan Álvarez drew a walk. Immediately, Yuli Gurriel knocked a single and Aledmys Díaz hit a groundout to advance the runners. Jason Castro came right away with a sac fly of his own to make it 2-0.

After Blake Taylor surrendered the Guardians’ lone run, Héctor Neris, Rafael Montero, and Ryan Pressly combined to shut the door with 2 1/3 no-hit innings. Pressly got his seventh save of the campaign and is carrying a streak of six scoreless appearances (5.2 IP, 4 H, 6 SO).

The Astros will take the day off on Thursday before heading back to Minute Maid Park for a three-game series against the Mariners. Justin Verlander is expected to start against righty Chris Flexen.

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