Odorizzi solid in 1st win since '19, Astros beat Red Sox 8-3

BOSTON (AP) — Jose Altuve and Alex Bregman homered to help Jake Odorizzi pick up his first win since 2019, and the Houston Astros rolled past the Boston Red Sox 8-3 on Wednesday night.

Houston has won three straight and will look to sweep the series in Thursday’s finale. Boston led 2-0 early, but the Astros responded with five quick runs to take control.

Odorizzi (1-3) allowed three runs and three hits over five innings, striking out six to post his first victory since Sept. 24, 2019 when he was still with Minnesota. Despite giving up a home run to Xander Bogaerts, he was mostly in control, throwing 54 of his 77 pitches for strikes. Cristian Javier allowed one hit and struck out three over four scoreless innings to get his first save.

It was an improvement from Odorizzi's first outing against Boston last week, in which he made it just three innings in what was Boston's only win over Houston this season.

Nathan Eovaldi (7-3) lasted 5 2/3 innings, giving up five runs and a season-high 11 hits while striking out five. The loss snapped his three-game winning streak.

Trailing 2-0, Astros got on the scoreboard in the second when Kyle Tucker scored on Myles Straw’s ground-rule double. Jose Altuve tied it in the third when he connected on a first-pitch fastball from Eovaldi and drove it over the left-field fence for his 10th home run of the season.

Houston added three more runs to take the lead, scoring on Yordan Alvarez’s RBI double, Yuli Gurriel’s ground-rule double and Michael Brantley's single.

Boston got one back in the fourth thanks to Bogaerts’ towering shot to left field.

Houston pushed it back up to 6-3 in the seventh when Brantley scored off Straw’s sacrifice fly, just sliding in under Christian Vázquez's tag following Hunter Renfroe’s throw from right field.

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source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/Odorizzi-solid-in-1st-win-since-19-Astros-beat-16237392.php