Houston Astros edge out Cincinnati Reds 5-4 – MLB Update
J.D. Martinez and Jordan Lyles put a resilient performance to help the Houston Astros beat the Cincinnati Reds 5-4 on Wednesday, August 3 at Minute Maid Park to take a 2-1 win in the three-game series.
Martinez had his career’s first homer against the Reds and it probably could not have come at a more appropriate time than this. He was genuinely cheered up from his brilliant hitting. “My phone's very popular tonight," he said. "It's great to get this win
-- finally."
Lyles was able to have his first win in the last 12 games, giving up six hits and allowing three runs in the seven innings that he pitched. For him, it was obviously a reassuring outcome given the fact that he was unable to win any games out of the 11 played.
"I haven't been nervous this year, but I was nervous in that dugout tonight after I came out," he said. "I'm not nervous when I'm on the mound at all, but emotions were up and down. Especially that last inning when they got a guy on base with no outs."
Houston Astros, after losing the last game 5-1, opted for an aggressive start on Wednesday. Jordan Lyles pitched a shut-out first against the Cincinnati Reds to pave the way for a stronger offence as the Astros’ hitters descended to formally start the game.
The response came from none other than J. D. Martinez. He did not give any opportunity to Dontrelle Willis to settle, opened the edge of his bat. His hit brought about the first homer of his career in the 4-hit two-run first inning that also gave the Astros
a 2-0 lead.
Rest of the game was a responsibility of the Houston starter Jordan Lyles who pitched good enough innings to keep the Cincinnati Reds’ offence at bay. No hitter of the Reds was able to go for any big hit until Todd Frazier put an end to the run drought.
Frazier homered to score the first run for the Cincinnati Reds to bring the Astros lead down to 2-1. Brandon Phillips scored an RBI single in the sixth to level the score and Willis, who had allowed a homer to Martinez, tried to compensate for a bad inning
by hitting a homer himself. His homer in the seventh gave the Reds an opportunity to secure a 3-2 lead.
Martinez hit another homer in the seventh to formally establish a 4-3 lead for the Houston Astros. Humberto Quintero hit another homer to make it 5-3 for the Astros which turned into victory by Mark Melancon with a shut-out ninth inning against the Reds.
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