EditorsNote: Corrects HOU streak vs. COL (Graf 3); adds info re. COL qual. starts (Graf 8); adds info re. Story history (Graf 9); other minor edits
Rookie right-hander Brandon Bielak surrendered one hit over six innings in his third career start, and the host Houston Astros made their two-run first inning stand up in a 2-1 interleague victory over the Colorado Rockies on Monday.
Bielak (3-0) earned his first victory as a starter by limiting Colorado to a Trevor Story home run with two outs and a full count in the third inning. Bielak walked four, including three to lead off innings, yet routinely pitched around traffic. He struck out four and threw 87 pitches, 53 for strikes.
The Astros extended their winning streak to a season-high five games and improved to 13-2 over their last 15 games against the Rockies including six in a row. Rookie left-hander Blake Taylor recorded the save, his first, by working around a leadoff single by Charlie Blackmon in the ninth.
Houston mustered some two-out magic in the bottom of the first against Rockies left-hander Kyle Freeland (2-1).
George Springer led off with a single, but Abraham Toro lined out and Alex Bregman grounded into a force out. But Yuli Gurriel's single sent Bregman to third, and they both scored on Carlos Correa's double into the left field corner for a 2-0 lead.
Freeland kept the Astros at bay through the end of his outing. He retired six consecutive batters following the Correa two-base hit, worked around a Bregman double and Gurriel single in the third by getting Correa to ground out, and induced an inning-ending double play off the bat of Astros catcher Dustin Garneau in the fourth.
Freeland had an animated albeit brief interaction with plate umpire Rob Drake over a close pitch to Correa in the sixth, but recovered to retire the final two batters that frame, yelling an expletive as he left the mound after Kyle Tucker hit a fly ball to right two batters after Correa singled.
Freeland allowed two runs on seven hits with five strikeouts over six innings. He recorded his fifth consecutive quality start to open the season, tied with Shawn Chacon (2003) for the second-longest streak in club history behind Ubaldo Jimenez (14 starts in 2010).
Story extended his hitting streak to nine games with his home run, the 130th of his career. He is tied with Matt Holliday for 10th in franchise history.
--Field Level Media
