HOUSTON --
The homers came on a span of four pitches off Rangers ace Mike Minor, who brushed aside 1,238 feet worth of long balls and sent down 15 of the final 16 batters he faced, capped by striking out the side in the seventh inning. Still, enough damage had been done by the Astros for them to win their third game in a row.\n\n“It was great,” said Bregman, who took a 97 mph fastball to his helmet in the eighth inning but stayed in to finish the game. “It was good to put together to put some at-bats back to back to back. We did a great job after a long night of traveling. I know everybody was tired. We win ballgames like that, it’s special.”\n\nVerlander (12-4) struck out 12 batters and allowed two runs in six innings -- on consecutive solo homers to Rougned Odor and Asdrubal Cabrera with two outs in the sixth inning. Verlander has 28 homers allowed, matching his 2018 total, which came in 214 innings.
“The game today, for the longest time, felt like exactly what 2019 feels like, which is a lot of homers and a lot of punchouts,” Hinch said. “Fortunately for us, we got on Minor pretty heavily early. We got some pitches to hit. That was an explosive three swings in a row. The building was rocking. We jumped out to a 3-0 lead on four solo homers, and they made their way back. It was quite a win for us.”\n\n
Verlander danced around traffic in all six innings of work and then watched