SWEET SWEEP! Jake Odorizzi stays hot for seventh straight win

On Mother’s Day, the Astros were brilliant to complete a four-game series sweep against the Tigers with a 5-0 shutout. Jake Odorizzi stayed in good form on the mound to guide Houston to its seventh straight win and to a perfect homestand in which the Astros swept Detroit and Seattle to leave their record at 18-11.

Odorizzi was in control all game long to get his third W of the season (3-2). The veteran righty fired five scoreless innings of one-hit ball with two walks and five strikeouts. His ERA kept going down to 3.38 after 17 2/3 innings of six hits and one run, along with four bases on balls and 12 punchouts. Over his last three starts (vs Rangers, Mariners, Tigers), Odo’s ERA is at 0.51.

Odorizzi, who got eight whiffs this Sunday, keeps adjusting himself to the new season. After allowing 16 hits and nine earned runs across nine innings over his first three outings of the season, the right-hander is turning into a solid back-end member of the current rotation.

Offensively, the Astros had an unexpected hero. In the third inning, Aledmys Díaz found bases loaded against righty Drew Hutchison and took him deep for his third career grand slam, this time to crack the score and make it 4-0. It was Díaz’s first homer since April 8.

A bit later, in the fifth inning, Alex Bregman launched a 412-foot solo shot for the Astros’ fifth and final run of the game. Bregman finished this series in fashion with his first dinger of the month despite being off throughout the bigger portion of the series against the Tigers – Bregs was 2-for-13 against Detroit (.154).

After Odorizzi was done, Cristian Javier pitched three hitless innings, allowed two walks, and struck out five hitters (0.83 ERA). To get things done, Héctor Neris was right on the money with a scoreless ninth of one punchout (0.64 ERA). Neris’ performance was helped by a jumping grab by Kyle Tucker to say NO to a Javy Báez home run.

The Astros will have a day off on Monday before visiting Target Field for a three-game series against the Twins from Tuesday to Thursday. Justin Verlander will face rookie Joe Ryan in what could be a pretty interesting series opener on Tuesday.

VIDEOS AND BOX SCORE HERE.