HOUSTON (AP) — Rookie Spencer Arrighetti struck out a season-high 10 in seven scoreless innings and Yainer Diaz had three hits to lead the Houston Astros to a 7-1 win over Colorado Wednesday that extend their winning streak to a season-high seven games.
The Astros, who opened 7-19, improved to 40-40 and reached .500 for the first time this season.
“It obviously means a lot,” second baseman Jose Altuve said. “We’ve been fighting and working hard every day to get back to this point and we’ve been playing really good baseball the last few weeks. So hopefully we continue to do that one game at a time and see what happens.”
Arrighetti (4-6) tied a season-low with three hits and didn’t walk a batter for the first time this year in his longest start of the season.
“The sweeper was nasty,” manager Joe Espada said. “He competed and he showcased why he’s here and why we believe in him.”
Colorado fell to 0-4 against Houston this year and have lost 11 in a row at Minute Maid Park, dating to Aug. 15, 2018. Their only run Wednesday came on a sacrifice fly by Brenton Doyle in the eighth inning as they dropped a third straight game.
Houston was up by 2 before tacking on four runs in the seventh inning to push the lead to 6-0.
“Over the course of the last like month and a half, I think we’ve started to play a lot better and I’m proud of the guys in here,” third baseman Alex Bregman said. “Obviously, there’s been a lot of bumps along the way this year but everybody kept fighting and kept going.”
Ryan Feltner (1-7) permitted four runs and seven hits in six-plus innings for his sixth straight loss.
Altuve started Houston’s fourth with a single and stole second base with one out before Feltner hit Yordan Alvarez with a pitch. Altuve swiped third base before Houston took a 1-0 lead when he scored on Diaz’s single to right field.
Arrighetti retired his first 10 batters before Ezequiel Tovar singled with one out in the fourth. Colorado’s next hit came on a double by Nolan Jones with two outs in the fifth, but Arrighetti struck out Jake Cave to leave him stranded.
A two-out RBI single by Altuve made it 2-0 in the fifth.
Tovar doubled with two outs in the sixth, but Arrighetti fanned Ryan McMahon to end the inning.
“First time we’ve seen him,” manager Bud Black said of Arrighetti. “Like I’ve always said, the advantage goes to the pitcher when its the first look. But if we see him again, we’ll have a little better results.”
The Astros started the scoring in the seventh on César Salazar’s sacrifice fly with the bases loaded that extended the lead to 3-0. Altuve hit a soft grounder to Tovar at shortstop and his throw home was high, allowing another run to score.
Bregman then grounded into a forceout, but a throwing error by second baseman Brendan Rodgers sent another run home to extend the lead to 5-0. Alvarez hit a ground-rule double before the Astros made it 6-0 on an RBI single by Diaz.
Jeremy Peña made it 7-1 with an RBI single with no outs in the eighth.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Rockies: Place RHP Jake Bird on the 15-day injured list with a right groin strain, retroactive to Sunday.
Astros: OF Kyle Tucker (bruised right shin) took 30 swings off a batting tee Tuesday and will travel with the team on the upcoming road trip as the Astros look for him to continue to increase baseball activity.
UP NEXT Rockies: The team is off Thursday before RHP Dakota Hudson (2-10, 5.63 ERA) opposes RHP Drew Thorpe (1-1, 5.02) in the opener of a three-game series against the Chicago White Sox Friday night.
Astros: Houston is also off Thursday and RHP Ronel Blanco (8-2, 2.34) will face LHP Jose Quintana (3-5, 4.58) in the first of three games against the New York Mets Friday night.
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