Astros Bombs Are Bigger than Cardinals Bombs. Win Bombfest 7-4

Bregman, Alvarez and Diaz all go yard

Live by the home run, die by the home run.

For eight innings it looked like the Astros would die by the home run.

Justin Verlander seemed dead in the water in the first inning when the second and fourth St. Louis batters, Alec Burleson and Nolan Gorman homered, putting the Astros down 2-0 before even getting to bat.

In the third inning a Paul Goldschmidt double and and a Nolan Arenado single put the Stros down 3-0. But with two outs in the bottom of the third, Yordan Alvarez gave the Astros life with a two-run homer, his 12th.

However, the Cardinals were not done. Gorman hit his second home of the game in the fifth and Verlander’s third surrendered to get the Cards back to a two-run lead.

The Astros scored a rare run by moving a runner in scoring position in the seventh when Jake Meyers singled home red-hot Yordan, who doubled earlier. But true to 2024 Astros form, the boys stranded the bases loaded with a Yainer Diaz groundout.

Have we lost hope in Yainer? Stay tuned.

In the eighth inning the Astros were resurrected by the home run. First, another Breggy bomb, his fifth in seven games, to tie the score at four.

Then, Diaz broke his long homer drought with a two run shot to the Crawford Boxes, scoring Meyers.

Jose Altuve joined the fun with a ground rule double that scored Chas McCormick, who had just stolen second base, giving us the final score of 7-4.

So, six home runs in this game, three by each team. But the Astros got theirs with runners on base, while the Cardinals only got solo shots. That has been a hallmark of Justin Verlander through the years. He tends to give up homers, but he tends to have the bases empty when he does.

The Astros only had nine hits to score their seven runs, with two hits each by Alvarez and Meyers.

Not including tonight, in his previous last five games Alvarez is hitting OPS 1.297. Including tonight he has three homers in his last three games.

In Bregman’s last six games not including tonight, he is slugging 1.459 OPS.

Kudos to the bullpen team of Parker Mushinski, Seth Martinez, Rafael Montero, and Josh Hader for shutting down the Cardinals after Verlander’s exit, allowing only a hit and a walk between them.

On the downside, Kyle Tucker left the game after fouling a ball into his shin.

Box score HERE.