Altuve's slam quiets booing, sends Astros past Indians 7-2

CLEVELAND (AP) — José Altuve hit a grand slam to briefly quiet constant booing by Cleveland fans, Yordan Álvarez and Michael Brantley homered, and the Houston Astros snapped a four-game losing streak with a 7-2 win over the Indians on Thursday night.

Jeered from the moment he stepped into the batter's box to start the game, Altuve connected for his fifth career slam in the fifth inning off rookie J.C. Mejia (1-3) to give Houston a 5-2 lead.

The Astros are making their first visit to Progressive Field since 2019, and they started hearing boos and other comments during pregame introductions about their infamous sign-stealing scandal.

Framber Valdez (5-1) overcame early control issues and allowed two runs and four hits in seven innings while helping Houston's thin bullpen get some rest.

The Astros turned inning-ending double plays in the fifth and sixth to help the left-hander.

Álvarez crushed his 14th homer, a 446-foot shot into the center-field bullpens, in the fourth for the Astros, who improved to an MLB-best 30-16 against teams with winning records.

Brantley, who spent 10 seasons with Cleveland, added his fifth homer in the seventh.

After being swept in a three-game series at home by Baltimore, the Astros didn't arrive in Cleveland until 5 a.m. and their bats were sluggish through four innings before Altuve shook things up.

Kyle Tucker led off the fifth with a double and Mejia walked Myles Straw before the right-hander got handcuffed on a bunt that loaded the bases.

Altuve fell behind 1-2 in the count, and as the crowd geared up to roar for a possible strikeout, Houston's second baseman pulled a slider from Mejia over the wall in left for his 18th homer and 11th since June 1.

The Indians took a 1-0 lead in the second but missed a chance to do more damage against...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/Altuve-s-slam-quiets-booing-sends-Astros-past-16288843.php