HOUSTON (SportsRadio 610)- A day after beating the Seattle Mariners 21-1, the Astros broke a Major League record by hitting six home runs in the first two innings of their 15-0 win over the Oakland Athletics Monday night at Minute Maid.
Alex Bregman started the massacre by launching a 1-2 slider over the Crawford Boxes for his 35th home run putting the Astros on top 3-0. On the very next pitch, Yordan Alvarez smacked a fastball over the rightfield wall. Aledmys Diaz followed with a single, and he scored when Robinson Chirinos sent a first pitch fastball from Fiers over the left-centerfield wall, making it 6-0.
The Astros continued to poor it on in the second inning. George Springer started things with a single, and that was followed by Jose Altuve's 26th home run of the season. Michael Brantley followed that with his 21st homer, which ended Fiers night. He allowed nine runs, recording just three outs. Paul Blackburn entered and retired Bregman, but three pitches later Alvarez sent a 2-0 fastball 416 feet down the rightfield line for his 24th home run, breaking the Astros rookie record set by Carlos Correa in 2015. Chirinos would add an RBI single later in the inning to make it 11-0.
Houston didn't score again until the sixth when Garrett Stubbs scored on a wild pitch, then for good measure, Chirinos added a three-run homer for the 6th multi-homer game of his career.
Zack Greinke was the beneficary of all the offense, though he didn't need it. He tossed six shutout innings, limiting the A's to two hits. Bryan Abreu and Cionel Perez combined for the game's final nine outs as the Astros won their fifth straigth game, and lowered their magic to clinch the American League West to 8.
Chirinos had a three hit game and drove in six runs. Altuve added three hits while Brantley, Alvarez and Abraham Toro added two.
Wade Miley will take the mound for the Astros against the A's Tuesday night at Minute Maid Park. He'll start opposite Tanner Roark.
