Altuve hits grand slam on 2-homer night, Astros beat Giants

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The Houston Astros and San Francisco Giants both have 64 wins, tied for most in the majors.

For two teams planning to play deep into October, their series opener Friday night provided a summer measuring stick.

José Altuve hit a grand slam in the sixth one inning after putting Houston ahead on a solo homer, and the AL-leading Astros held off the Giants 9-6 in a matchup of baseball's top two teams.

“We’re one of the toughest teams in the big leagues,” said Houston bench coach Joe Espada, filling in as manager Dusty Baker served a one-game suspension. “We know that it's a very important series for us and the guys came in and they were ready to take the field.”

It marked Altuve's sixth career slam and third this season. His third multi-homer game of 2021 was the seventh of his career.

“Crazy approach today. I was swinging at pitches out of the zone,” Altuve said. “I felt pretty good.”

Altuve cleared the fences as fans chanted, “You're a cheater!” in reference to Houston's sign-stealing scandal.

“He’s a special player. He lives for moments like those,” Espada said. “There’s no one that we’d rather have at the plate than José Altuve. He steps up to the plate and he embraces those moments. It’s just awesome to watch him do that over and over again.”

Aledmys Díaz went deep in the ninth for the Astros.

San Francisco will have a new face in the lineup but not until Sunday at the earliest after acquiring slugger Kris Bryant from the Cubs before the trade deadline Friday. He won't arrive until after Saturday's game.

Baker didn't get to square off against his former club because of the suspension handed down a couple of hours before first pitch along with a three-game penalty for left-handed reliever Brooks...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/Altuve-hits-grand-slam-on-2-homer-night-Astros-16354025.php