May 26, 2016; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Astros right fielder George Springer (4) hits his second home run against the Baltimore Orioles in the fifth inning at Minute Maid Park. Photo Credit: Thomas B. Shea-USA TODAY Sports
By MoiseKapenda Bower, The Sports Xchange
HOUSTON — George Springer recorded his third career multi-home run game and the Houston Astros completed a series sweep of the Baltimore Orioles with a 4-2 victory on Thursday night at Minute Maid Park.
Springer hit his 10th and 11th homers in support of right-hander Lance McCullers (1-1), who earned his first win on the season. McCullers and three relievers combined for 15 strikeouts, helping the Astros (20-28) set a major league record for strikeouts in a three-game series with 52. Washington pitchers recorded 47 strikeouts of the Twins April 22-24.
Astros third baseman Luis Valbuena also homered off Orioles right-hander Kevin Gausman (0-2). Houston right-hander Ken Giles notched his first save with the Astros despite allowing an RBI single to Manny Machado with two outs in the ninth inning. Machado recorded the lone hit among the top three batters in the Baltimore order, with that trio finishing 1-for-11 with four walks and six strikeouts.
The Orioles (26-19) suffered their first sweep on the season.
McCullers set the stage for his interesting outing almost immediately, walking the first two batters he faced before stranding both Joey Rickard and Manny Machado in scoring position to close the first inning.
McCullers opened the second by allowing his lone hit of the night, a towering home run to left by Mark Trumbo that pulled the Orioles even at 1-1. From there, McCullers was all over the map, striking out two batters in the third and fourth inning before striking out the side — all swinging — in the fifth after walking the bases loaded.
On his 108th and final pitch, McCullers got Matt Wieters on a breaking ball to leave the bases loaded in the fifth. He finished with 10 strikeouts against six walks and that lone run coming off the Trumbo solo blast.
Gausman was neither as wild nor as overpowering. Having allowed just three home runs in his previous six starts this season, Gausman surrendered that many in five inconsistent innings.
Springer smacked his first leadoff home run since June 19, 2015, on the second pitch in the first, a 430-foot blast to left field. Three batters into the second, Valbuena struck for a third consecutive game with his two-run shot to right, his fifth homer overall giving the Astros a 3-1 lead.
With one out in the fifth, Springer delivered again, launching a 443-foot shot to left that extended the lead to 4-1.
Gausman recorded seven strikeouts and walked just one batter, but his walk of Tyler White preceded the Valbuena home run, which represented a bit of bad timing.
NOTES: Astros DH/C Evan Gattis will catch someone other than RHP Collin McHugh the next time through the rotation, manager A.J. Hinch announced. Both of Gattis’ starts behind the plate since his return from Double-A Corpus Christi have come with McHugh on the mound, with McHugh posting a 3.65 ERA and 18 strikeouts in 12 1/3 innings. … The Astros concluded a stretch of 20 games and six series against American League teams with winning records. They won series against the Orioles, Indians and White Sox, split a four-game set with the Mariners and dropped series against the Red Sox and Rangers. … Orioles RHP Kevin Gausman faced six right-handed hitters in the Astros’ lineup, at first blush an odd strategy. However, he has reverse splits and been far more effective against left-handed hitters (.352 OPS) than righties (.846).
