It didn’t take long before the Astros looked to be well on their way to yet another loss. After Twins starter Joe Ryan struck out the side in the first (getting Jose Altuve, Isaac Paredes and Yordan Alvarez), Matt Wallner opened the bottom of the frame with a triple, then scored on a Carlos Correa groundout. Byron Buxton singled, stole a base, and scored Minnesota’s second run on a Trevor Larnach single into left field.
Already trailing 2-0, Houston got it back pretty fast. They opened the second inning with back to back homers courtesy of Christian Walker (1)…
…and Jeremy Peña (2).
Jeremy Peña slugged under .400 against 4 seamers last year. It’s been a gradual decline since his rookie year. If he can do more of this… watch out.
— Ben Verlander (@BenVerlander) April 3, 2025
The tie game lasted until the fourth inning, when Brendan Rodgers drove home Walker and Victor Caratini for a 4-2 lead. Rodgers added another RBI with a sixth-inning double, driving home Caratini for a second time. The score remained 5-2 through the remaining three innings.
It wasn’t without problems for the Astros. Altuve struck out four more times to total five in the game — his first Platinum Sombrero in a 15-season major league career. Yordan Alvarez, Cam Smith, and Isaac Paredes also were unable to collect a safe base hit, adding five more strikeouts to Houston’s total of 12 for the day.
Rodgers led Houston’s offense with three hits, while Walker and Caratini had two each. Hunter Brown (1-1, 3.00) earned the win, striking out eight over six innings, allowing two runs on five hits and zero walks. He got 61-of-91 pitches in the zone. Bryan King followed with a perfect seventh, Bryan Abreu added a pair of strikeouts in a hitless and walkless eighth, and Josh Hader (3) earned the save with a flawless ninth, collecting one strikeout.
Players of the Game (with positive WPA)
Brendan Rodgers +24.2Christian Walker +19.2
Hunter Brown +12.5
PostCast: Courtesy of Locked on Astros.
Houston gets a day off tomorrow (I guess Minnesota does too, for that matter). The two clubs will return to the field on Saturday and Sunday early in the afternoon. I’ll see you all in the gamethread!
