Christian Walker hit one of Houston’s four homers, reached on a fielder’s choice that allowed the tiebreaking run to score in the ninth and helped the visiting Astros to an 8-7 win over the Kansas City Royals on Saturday night.
Trailing 7-5, Houston’s Jose Altuve hit a two-run homer in the eighth before the game endured a 91-minute rain delay. In the ninth, the Astros had runners on first and third with one out when Alex Lange (0-4) got Walker to bounce into a potential 6-4-3 double play, but second baseman Nick Loftin’s throw was wide of first, allowing a run to score.
The Royals’ Bobby Witt Jr. doubled, for his third hit, in the ninth, but was doubled off second on Isaac Collins’ liner to end the game.
Yordan Alvarez had three hits for Houston.
The Royals’ Noah Cameron did not allow a hit or walk through the first three innings, then yielded two-run homers to Walker and Brice Matthews, plus five other hits, over the next 1 1/3 before being pulled.
Houston starter Mike Burrows grinded before being lifted after allowing Salvador Perez’s single to open the sixth, and gave up seven hits, two walks and was charged with five runs — four earned.
Kansas City opened the scoring in the second on Michael Massey’s single to right field. In the third, Vinnie Pasquantino’s RBI single put Kansas City up 2-0. Witt, who reached on a soft single for his 800th career hit, then scored via a passed ball. Pasquantino later exited with a right hand/hamate injury.
In the Houston fourth, Alvarez recorded a one-out single and came home via Walker’s drive over the left-field fence. Kansas City got a run back in the bottom of that frame when Lane Thomas went deep into the left-field seats.
The Astros tied it in the fifth, when Jake Meyers reached on an infield single and Matthews homered. They took their first lead in the sixth when Meyers sent a pitch from John Schreiber into the left-center field seats.
However, Carter Jensen’s three-run double split the left-center field gap in the sixth to give Kansas City a 7-5 edge.
Bryan King (1-1) pitched a scoreless inning for the win with a strikeout.
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