HOUSTON (SportsRadio 610)- Michael Brantley hit a pair of home runs as the Astros completed a weekend series sweep of the Texas Rangers with a 5-3 win Sunday afternoon at Minute Maid Park.
Brantley's first homer of the day followed Alex Bregman's one-out walk in the first inning when he sent a first pitch fastball from Lance Lynn into the Astros bullpen. His second long ball came in eighth when launched a 2-1 cutter from Chris Martin over the rightfield wall. It's the sixth multi-homer game of his career and second of the season. He has now gone deep 15 times in 2019.
That was plenty of offense for an Astros pitching staff led by Rogelio Armenteros, who earned the first win of his Major League career in his first start, holding the Rangers to a run on two hits in five innings with six strikeouts. Danny Santana's third inning RBI infield single provided the Rangers only run against him, which cut the Astros lead to 2-1. The score remained 2-1 until Jose Altuve smacked a first pitch fastball into the Astros bullpen with two-out in the bottom of the fifth for his 14th home run.
With Armenteros out of the game, the Rangers answered Altuve's homer when Nomar Mazara drove a Josh James fastball into the Crawford Boxes. James recorded the first two outs of that inning, with Collin McHugh finishing the frame and working around a walk in the seventh. Texas had traffic against Will Harris in the eighth, but with the tying run at first, Harris struck out Joey Gallo to end the threat. Roberto Osuna allowed a solo homer to Logan Forsythe in the ninth for his 22nd save of the season, sending the Astros to their fifth straight win, handing the Rangers their seventh straight loss.
Brantley finished 3-for-3 with a walk for his league-best 40th multi-hit game of the season.
Yordan Alvarez added two hits, including a fifth inning RBI single.
Lance Lynn took the loss for Texas despite striking out 12 batters. He surrendered four runs in seven innings.
Santana had two hits for the Rangers, but Gallo finished 0-for-4 with four strikeouts. He was hitless in 12 at bats in the series, striking out nine times.
The Astros will continue their six-game homestand Monday night when the Oakland Athletics visit Minute Maid Park. Gerrit Cole will take the mound for the Astros against Homer Bailey.
