Punchless Astros Bats Waste a Good Garcia Start. Fall to the Red Sox 3-2

Well, at least the Astros scored two runs tonight.

Oh yea, they were both unearned.

And so, the Astros wasted a good pitching performance by Luis Garcia and company, managing only five hits and going 1-8 with runners in scoring position en route to a 3-2 loss to the Boston Red Sox.

The Red Sox notched the scoreboard first with two doubles in the third inning, Jarren Duran knocking in Bobby Dalbec.

But in the bottom of the third, the Astros took a momentary lead off Boston starter Nathan Eovaldi with the help of two Sox errors. Jose Altuve led off with a grounder to third base that Christian Arroyo allowed to bounce past him (it was a borderline error call). Xander Bogaerts definitely bungled Yuli Gurriel’s easy grounder putting runners on second and third with no outs.

The Astros tied the score on a Yordan Alvarez sac fly, and took a 2-1 lead on an Aledmys Diaz double scoring Gurriel.

But the Red Sox regained the lead in the fifth when Duran struck again, this time with a two-run homer.

That was all the Sox would need on a night when Astros bats went dormant.

Astros starter Luis Garcia got another quality start, something the Astros staff seems to achieve almost every night. He ended with seven innings, allowing three runs on six hits and one walk while striking out five. Phil Maton and Rafael Montero closed out the Bosox with a perfect inning each.

The Red Sox and Stros go at it again tomorrow at 7:10 CT. Cristian Javier takes the mound for the home team against Kutter Crawford.

Box score and videos here.

Note. During the game, it was reported that Jake Odorizzi was traded to the Atlanta Braves. The Astros’ return is unknown at the time of publication.