Astros ride nine-run sixth inning to series-opening win over Orioles

HOUSTON — It began with a go-ahead homer from Jake Meyers in the fifth inning and soon turned into an avalanche of hits covering every corner of Minute Maid Park. The Astros hope their biggest offensive outburst of the season Friday night is a sign of things to come — and they needed almost every bit of it.

After Meyers put Houston ahead with a three-run homer, the Astros sent 13 batters to the plate and erupted for a season-high nine runs in the sixth, but had to hold on for dear life to outlast the Orioles, 14-11, for their third win in a row. Houston went over .500 at home (20-19) for the first time this year.

The Astros won despite allowing 18 hits, which tied a team record for most hits allowed in a nine-inning win, as the Orioles scored seven times in the eighth. The last time the Astros won a game in nine innings and allowed 18 hits was July 18, 2001, against the Cardinals.

“At the end of the day, you want to win the game,” manager Joe Espada said. “Did we want to do it in a different way at the end? Of course, but at the end of the day, it’s a win.”

Indeed. The Astros have gained three games on the Mariners, who are in first place in the American League West, in three days and find themselves seven games back and alone in second place. Houston (36-40) is four games under .500 for the first time since it was 4-8 on April 12.

“I think we’ve had talk in the clubhouse about trying to take it one game at a time and the effort is going to be there, the energy is going to be there, and go out there and try and win a game,” Meyers said.

Despite slugger Kyle Tucker still out while recovering from a shin contusion, the Astros scored a season-high 14 runs and got production from up and down the lineup. Every starter scored at least one run, with rookie Joey Loperfido (3-for-4) and veteran Jose Altuve (3-for-5) leading the way. Houston was 7-for-14 with runners in scoring position.

Altuve and Loperfido, who was called up from Triple-A Sugar Land on Friday, each had two-run doubles in the sixth, and Jon Singleton added a two-run single. Loperfido had two of Houston’s five doubles in the inning, making him the first Astros player since Yordan Alvarez on Sept. 8, 2019, to have two doubles in one inning. The nine-run inning was the club’s most since scoring 10 against the White Sox on June 17, 2002.

“I thought top to bottom, especially with guys on tonight, everybody put together good at-bats,” Loperfido said. “Any time you drive in runs like that consecutively, it’s fun. We knew we’d have to slug against these guys and we did that. Jake got things started with the big homer, but we kept going.”

Loperfido is back on the Major League roster for the third time this season and could be there to stay. He brings the kind of athleticism the Astros are lacking at some positions, and Espada said prior to the game, Loperfido would get at-bats at first base. He also made a tremendous diving catch on the left-field line in the first inning.

“That was a huge play,” Espada said. “His athleticism, his explosiveness, that’s exactly what we’re looking for, that little spark we needed. He provided that today.”

The catch was huge considering starting pitcher Jake Bloss, who was called up from Double-A Corpus Christi on Thursday, had allowed the first two hitters to reach in the first inning.

“Hopefully that took a little bit of pressure off Jake there in the first,” Loperfido said. “Sugar Land has a great clubhouse of guys top to bottom, a special staff, and to have their support and come back up here, and have the guys’ support here, and have everybody happy to see me again, it feels good.”

In addition to Loperfido, the resurgence at the plate of Alex Bregman, who’s hitting .353 in his past 21 games, the evolution of Meyers as a hitter and the steady bat of utility man Mauricio Dubon, who extended his hitting streak to 14 games, are sparking an Astros offense that’s awaiting the return of Tucker.

“I thought our guys put together great at-bats all night and battled throughout, for all eight innings of offense,” Bregman said. “It was a really good offensive performance.”