Houston drops series opener to the Guardians; loses 7-5

After a fantastic road trip, the Astros return home and can’t get that same spark

Returning home from a fantastic road trip where they went 5-1, the Houston Astros returned home to face the Cleveland Guardians and got the series started off with a loss, losing 7-5 on Monday at Daikin Park.

With Jake Meyers hurt and Christian Walker going on paternity leave on top of the rest of the injuries, the Astros started four rookies today, including one player making his MLB debut, to try and back up Astros starter Colton Gordan, another rookie.

This number is a new high for rookies in a lineup for the Astros. The only other time in the franchise’s history that this many rookies have started a game together was the infamous “all-rookie” lineup from 1963.

With that in mind, the Guardians got on the board first in this one.

After back-to-back singles and a sac-bunt to start the fifth, a one-out line drive off the head of Gordon was enough to get the first run of the game across.

After the trainers came out to check on him, he was able to convince them that he was fine enough to at least finish the inning. He got the second out after that before a three-run shot put Cleveland up 4-0.

After the Astros tied it in the bottom half, the Guardians jumped right back in front, this time courtesy of a two-RBI double off new Astros pitcher Steven Okert, to put them back up 6-4. One of those runs that scored was credited to Gordan as the last run of the night for him.

The final run of the night for Cleveland came off the bat of David Fry, who lifted a ball into the right-corner of the Crawford Boxes, sneaking it in for a home run and bringing the game to its final; 7-5.

Colton Gordan’s final line:

5.2 IP, 7 H, 5 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 82-54 TP-S

Following Gordan, Okert gave the Astros 1.1 innings out of the pen before Houston then turned the ball over to Héctor Neris, making his season debut with the Astros for the third different time.

He gave the Astros a perfect inning in his debut, including two strikeouts, before the final run for Cleveland came in the top of the ninth off the final Astros pitcher, Kaleb Ort, bringing us to our final of 7-5.

On the other side, coming off a massive sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Astros hitters started off this game by getting no-hit through the first four innings against the Guardians starter Tanner Bibee.

Once the Astros bats woke up in the fifth, and they woke up in a big way.

After the first two hits of the game for the Astros came on back-to-back singles, Taylor Trammell made this game interesting again with one swing, smacking his first homer as an Astro and his first since 2023, making it 4-3.

This was matched a couple batters later by Isaac Parades, who launched his team-leading 19th home run of the season into the Crawford Boxes, tying the game right back up at four and sending the Guardians into their pen.

After the Guardians took their lead back in the top half of the sixth inning, the Astros, playing from behind once again, got one of those runs back in the bottom half thanks to a bomb from Victor Caratini, bringing the game back within one-run.

That was the only damage the Astros were able to do for the rest of the night, ending the night with just five runs. This loss gives the Guardians third first win in the past 10-games, snapping one of the longest streaks in their franchise’s history.

The Astros were beaten all around today. Not only did they lose the game itself, but they were also outhit by double, recording just five hits to the Guardians 10.

This is just the first of three games against the Guardians in this series, with the next game starting tomorrow at 7:10 P.M.