HOUSTON (SportsRadio 610)- Tuesday night's game at Minute Maid Park was supposed to be all about Zack Greinke, and he won his Astros debut, but Yuli Gurriel stole the show as the Astros beat the Colorado Rockies 11-6.
Gurriel finished 2-for-3 with a walk, two home runs, and three RBI as the Astros won their fifth straight game.
Houston grabbed the lead when Yordan Alvarez followed Alex Bregman's leadoff double in the second, with a mammoth 436 foot home run to right rightfield, his 14th of the season. Michael Brantley added to it with an RBI single in the third, but the Rockies battled back against Greinke, who didn't allow a run until the fourth.
An infield single, a walk, and a wild pitch gave Colorado runners at second and third with nobody out, and Nolan Arenado's sacrifice fly got them on the board. Ryan McMahon's RBI double made it 3-2 Astros.
Gurriel's big night started in the fourth when he smacked German Marquez's 0-2 slider into the Crawford Boxes, and the Astros added another run in the fifth to stretch the lead to three, but against Greinke, the Rockies tied the game when Raimel Tapia smacked a first pitch curveball over the rightfield wall for his eighth home run of the season, but the game didn't stay tied for long.
Marquez went the first five innings for the Rockies, allowing five runs, but the Astros regained the lead on the second pitch of the bottom of the sixth when Carlos Correa hit his 15th homer of the season. George Springer singled home another run in the inning, and while Charlie Blackmon's seventh inning homer off Chris Devenski cut the lead in half, the Astros blew the game open in their half of the inning, thanks in large part to Gurriel.
Brantley and Bregman reached to start the inning, and with one out, they scored when Correa slapped a double past Arenado. Gurriel followed with his second home run of the night.
Correa finished with two hits and three RBI, while Brantley, Springer, and Bregman also had two hit nights.
Greinke allowed five runs on seven hits in six innings, earning his 11th win of the season. After Devenski allowed the long ball in the seventh, Hector Rondon worked a 1-2-3 eighth inning, while Collin McHugh kept the Rockies off the board in the ninth.
The Astros will go for the sweep at Minute Maid Park Wednesday afternoon when Gerrit Cole gets the ball against Peter Lambert.
