Rookie sensation George Springer homered for the seventh time in as many games, leading the surging Houston Astros to a 3-1 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Thursday.
Springer homered in a 2-1 loss to the Angels on May 21 and sat the next two games before clubbing two in a win over the Mariners, the first in a string of six consecutive wins. His 10th homer of the season in the seventh inning broke a 1-1 tie in this one, and Houston's bullpen did the rest.
Josh Fields (1-3) worked two scoreless innings in relief of Brad Peacock, who allowed the lone run on six hits while fanning eight over six innings. Chad Qualls needed just eight pitches to post his fourth save of the season.
Jose Altuve went 3-for-4 with a pair of stolen bases and a run scored for Houston, which currently holds the longest winning streak in baseball after Toronto's nine-game streak ended earlier tonight.
Preston Guilmet (0-1) took the loss after serving up Springer's two-run homer.
Houston scored the game's first run off Ubaldo Jimenez in the second inning, but missed an opportunity to pad the cushion. Jason Castro walked and Matt Dominguez singled to center. Then with one out, Alex Presley walked to load the bases, and Castro raced home on Jimenez's wild pitch.
Jimenez induced consecutive groundouts to avoid further damage.
Steve Pearce led off the top of the fourth with a double to left and scored when Nelson Cruz beat Houston's shift with a grounder into right.
Jimenez struck out eight in six innings before giving way to Guilmet, who fanned Jonathan Villar before offering up a single to Altuve. Altuve swiped second during Springer's at-bat, but it didn't matter, as the 24-year-old belted a liner just over the wall in left.
The decisive home run was Houston's lone hit in 15 chances with a runner in scoring position.
[SportsNetwork.com]
