Astros beat the Guardians 2-1 Sunday to take two of three in the series. Yordan Alvarez hit his 25th home run of the season, and Kai-Wei Teng threw six solid innings. A great way to close out a tough stretch against one of the better teams in baseball.
Alvarez had gone seven games without a homer, but he ended that drought in a big way Sunday. Alvarez hit a solo shot to right-center off Slade Cecconi in the first inning.
It was his first homer since hitting two in Kansas City on June 12, snapping that seven-game drought. He sits at number two in MLB with 25 home runs, just behind Kyle Schwarber, who has 29.
Teng threw six innings, allowing one run on four hits with four strikeouts. It was exactly the bounce back the Astros needed. Teng had allowed at least three runs in each of his previous four starts, but Sunday he snapped that three-start losing streak and improved to 4-6 on the season.
Isaac Paredes had three hits including an RBI single in the fourth. Cleveland cut the lead to 2-1 in the fifth on a Travis Bazzana groundout that drove in Petey Halpin, who had tripled. The bullpen shut the door from there: Steven Okert pitched a scoreless seventh, Bryan King threw a perfect eighth, and Josh Hader closed it out in the ninth for his fifth save.
The Astros took two of three from a legitimate playoff contender in Cleveland. This continues a stretch where the bullpen has been the best in the AL since May 15. A signal that this team can hang with the top of the league when everything clicks.
