MINNEAPOLIS — Luis Garcia and three relievers combined on a seven-hitter, Yordan Álvarez homered twice and Jeremy Peña capped a big day with three hits as the Houston Astros extended their winning streak to 10 games with a 5-0 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Thursday.
Houston completed a three-game sweep. Before the regularly scheduled game, the teams completed a game suspended after three innings on Wednesday night due to severe weather. Jose Altuve homered, doubled and drove in three runs in an 11-3 victory.
Peña had two hits and drove in three runs in the first game, giving the Astros shortstop 20 RBIs, most among rookies. He left the second game in the fourth inning with what appeared to be a minor knee injury.
Álvarez drove a pitch from Josh Winder (2-1) over the wall in center field to give the Astros a 3-0 lead in the third inning. His second homer of the day and 10th this season came in the ninth off rCole Sands.
Garcia (3-1) gave up five hits and two walks while striking out nine in five innings to win his second consecutive start. Seth Martinez, Blake Taylor and Rafael Montero worked the final four innings, limiting the slumping Twins on two hits. Minnesota has scored just 10 runs in six games since shortstop Carlos Correa injured a finger.
The Astros led 5-1 after three innings on Wednesday night when the game was suspended due to heavy rain and lightning.
Twins manger Rocco Baldelli was back in the dugout on Thursday after missing a week due to COVID-19. Bench coach Jayce Tingler had been running the team in his absence.
Kyle Tucker also homered for the Astros. Bryan Abreu (2-0) earned the victory in relief of José Urquidy, who gave up one run over three innings before the game was suspended. Abreu allowed one run and struck out four in two innings pitched.
Chris Archer (0-1) gave up four earned runs on five hits and three walks in three innings.
When play restarted, the Twins closed to 5-2 on a sacrifice fly by Mark Contreras, who was making his major league debut.
But Houston quickly blew it open with a six-run sixth. The barrage started with Tucker's solo homer, a high fly to right field. After Peña struck out, the next six batters reached base. Jose Siri and Martin Maldonado singled off Yennier Cano, who had come on in the fourth in relief of Archer.
Cano was replaced by Cody Stashak, who gave up consecutive doubles to Altuve, Michael Brantley and Alex Bregman. Álvarez singled and Tucker capped the burst with an RBI single.
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