The Houston Astros kicked off their series against the Washington Nationals Monday night at Nationals Park. The Astros came in riding some serious momentum after taking the series against the Tampa Bay Rays and snapping their nine-game winning streak, the longest active streak in baseball at the time.
But the momentum didn't carry over Monday night in a wild game stacked with home runs. The Astros lost 12-11.
The Nationals are 46-45 going into this series. Neck and neck with the Astros.
Here is a look at the series opener highlights:
Off to a strong start, Christian Walker drove in a run in the first, and Jose Altuve hit a three-run homer in the second to make it 4-1. Yainer Diaz added a two-run shot in the third to push the lead to 6-1. It looked like it was going to be a comfortable night.
Then the third inning happened.
The Nationals sent their first five batters to the plate and scored five runs to tie the game at 6-6. Luis Garcia Jr. doubled, Curtis Mead singled, and CJ Abrams capped it off with a three-run homer. Just like that the lead was gone.
Mike Burrows could not recover. He allowed 10 runs, seven earned, in just 4 1/3 innings. It was the most runs allowed by an Astros pitcher since 2023, per ESPN. In the fifth, James Wood put the game away with a 446-foot grand slam off AJ Blubaugh to make it 12-6.
The Astros tried to fight back. Brice Matthews hit a three-run homer in the eighth to pull it within 12-11, but they could not complete the comeback.
The Astros fall to 45-48 with the loss. The Nationals are a scrappy team, and this was exactly the kind of game the Astros cannot afford to let slip away. Tatsuya Imai takes the mound tonight against Andrew Alvarez in game two of the series.
