Houston Astros at Cincinnati Reds

· Major League Baseball

Houston Astros

75-63, 36-34 Away

Final
3 - 5

Cincinnati Reds

66-73, 34-39 Home

Santiago Espinal's bloop single drives in 2 runs as the Reds hold off the Astros for a 5-3 win

Ty France had four hits as Cincinnati stopped Houston's five-game win streak. Amed Rosario had two hits and drove in a run.

Yainer Diaz had two hits and three RBI for the Astros in the opener of a three-game interleague series. Verlander (3-5) was charged with five runs and eight hits in 4 2/3 innings.

Houston had a chance in the ninth, but came up empty. With Jason Heyward aboard after a leadoff single, Jose Altuve struck out looking against Emilio Pagán. Justin Wilson then earned his second save when he retired Yordan Alvarez on a liner to center.

Carson Spiers (5-5), the third of five Cincinnati pitchers, worked 2 1/3 innings for the win. He was charged with one run and three hits.

With Cincinnati's top three starters on the shelf with injuries, manager David Bell has used a creative approach.

“The bullpen through all of this, it's just unbelievable what they're doing," Bell said. "We understand what's happening, and it means a lot."

Verlander walked the bases full in the first inning. TJ Friedl hit a sacrifice fly, and France singled in Elly De La Cruz for a 2-0 lead.

“I was all over the place in that first inning," Verlander said. "The mechanics, not good. The location needed to be better. I made some decent pitches that weren’t called but it’s hard to get pitches when you’re all over the place.”

Diaz responded with a tying two-run single in the third against Julian Aguiar.

Cincinnati went ahead to stay with a two-out rally in the fifth. With runners on second and third, Espinal’s blooper landed in shallow right field. Espinal swiped second and scored on Rosario's single off Kaleb Ort.

“I felt the last few innings, especially the last couple, were a lot better," Verlander said. “In the fifth inning, it was a tough pill to swallow.”

Cincinnati collected 13 hits, but it went 3 for 11 with runners in scoring position and left 14 runners on base.

The Reds were coming off an extra-innings win on Sunday that salvaged the finale of their four-game set with NL Central-leading Milwaukee.

The Reds had pulled even with the Cardinals for second place in the division after a sweep of St. Louis in mid-August. It's been rough going from there, with Cincinnati dropping 12 of 18 and sliding back down in the standings.

WORTH NOTING

The Reds recalled outfielder Blake Dunn from Triple-A Louisville and designated first baseman Dominic Smith for assignment.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Astros: INF Alex Bregman missed a fifth straight game with elbow inflammation.

After a rare day off in the middle of a series, Astros right-hander Spencer Arrighetti (7-11, 4.63 ERA) is the scheduled starter against Reds right-hander Nick Martinez (6-6, 3.78 ERA).

How can I watch Houston Astros vs. Cincinnati Reds?

TV Channel: Astros at Reds 2022 MLB Baseball, is broadcasted on MLB.TV.
Online streaming: Sign up for Fubo.

Matchup Prediction

Reds: 45.3%

Astros: 54.7%

*According to ESPN's Basketball Power Index

Scoring Summary

	9th Inning	Alvarez lined out to center.
	9th Inning	Heyward to third on fielder's indifference.
	9th Inning	Wilson relieved Pagán
	9th Inning	Altuve struck out looking.
	9th Inning	McCormick bunt grounded out to pitcher, Heyward to second.
	9th Inning	Heyward singled to right.

Statistics

HOU		CIN
1	Games Played	1
1	Team Games Played	1
0	Hit By Pitch	0
9	Ground Balls	10
8	Strikeouts	10
3	Runs Batted In	5
0	Sacrifice Hit	0
6	Hits	13
0	Stolen Bases	4
5	Walks	6
0	Catcher Interference	0
3	Runs	5
1	Ground Into Double Play	0
1	Sacrifice Flies	1
32	At Bats	36
0	Home Runs	0
0	Grand Slam Home Runs	0
16	Runners Left On Base	25
0	Triples	0
0	Game Winning RBIs	1
1	Intentional Walks	0
2	Doubles	1
16	Fly Balls	17
0	Caught Stealing	0
170	Pitches	177
0	Games Started	0
1	Pinch At Bats	0
1	Pinch Hits	0
0.0	Player Rating	0.0
1	Is Qualified	1
0	Is Qualified In Steals	1
8	Total Bases	14
38	Plate Appearances	43
0.0	Projected Home Runs	0.0
2	Extra Base Hits	1
2.4	Runs Created	7.8
.188	Batting Average	.361
1.000	Pinch Hit Average	.000
.250	Slugging Percentage	.389
.219	Secondary Average	.306
.289	On Base Percentage	.442
.539	OBP Pct + SLG Pct	.831
0.6	Ground To Fly Ball Ratio	0.6
2.3	Runs Created Per 27 Outs	8.8
22.0	Batter Rating	39.0
0.0	At Bats Per Home Run	0.0
0.00	Stolen Base Percentage	1.00
4.47	Pitches Per Plate Appearance	4.12
.063	Isolated Power	.028
0.63	Walk To Strikeout Ratio	0.60
.132	Walks Per Plate Appearance	.140
.031	Secondary Average Minus Batting Average	-.056
6.0	Runs Produced	10.0
1.0	Runs Ratio	1.0
0.4	Patience Ratio	0.5
0.3	Balls In Play Average	0.5
72.0	MLB Rating	90.5
0.0	Offensive Wins Above Replacement	0.0
0.0	Wins Above Replacement	0.0