Astros smash Royals 10-3, raise AL West lead to 7.5 games

For the fifth game in a row, the Astros came out with the win. On Friday night, things weren’t any different as their hitters went out loud with a 10-3 score – the Astros had not scored 10 runs since May 17. The Cuban trio formed by Yuli Gurriel, Yordan Álvarez, and Aledmys Díaz was lights out while José Urquidy had a strong outing to raise the Astros’ lead in the AL West by 7.5 games over the Angels.

The Astros, with the second-best record in the young circuit, had it going early with a two-run home run by Díaz for his third four-bagger of the season and his first one since May 8. Díaz’s bang was just the beginning for Houston and then followed with an RBI single to make it 3-0 in the fourth inning.

Then, while Urquidy was on top of his game, the Astros got a rally going in the fifth with four more runs, via two two-run long balls by Martín Maldonado and Álvarez. The latter had a good way of celebrating his new, millionaire contract extension, blasting this mammoth, 427-foot dinger over the center-field fence for his 15th shot of the year…

Among Yuli, Aledmys, and Yordan, there were eight hits in 14 at-bats, with one double and two homers, along with six runs batted in.

With a 7-0 lead against one of the worse offenses in the MLB, it was all a matter of time for the Astros to get their 34th victory of the campaign.

Speaking of Urquidy, the young righty picked up his fifth win after firing six innings of five hits, three earned runs, one walks, six strikeouts, and one home run allowed to rookie Bobby Witt Jr. For Urquidy, it was just his third quality start of 2022.

On Saturday, both teams will see each other again. While the Royals are yet to announce their starter, Luis García will take the ball for the Astros. García has posted a 2.45 ERA in his last three starts and is 1-0, 2.31 ERA in his career against Kansas City.

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