Kansas City Royals at Houston Astros

· Major League Baseball

Kansas City Royals

66-85, 27-49 Away

Final
2 - 4

Houston Astros

76-75, 38-38 Home

Jeremy Peña hits 2 early homers, Yordan Alvarez hits 39th as Astros beat Royals 4-2

The Astros, who entered the day leading the AL West by one game over the Texas Rangers, got back on track after a three-game sweep by Tampa Bay over the weekend.

Peña hit Michael Wacha’s first pitch over the wall in left-center field for his first homer since Aug. 30.

There was one out in the third when he connected off Wacha (9-9) again, a shot to the seats in left to make it 2-0 and give him a fifth career multi-homer game.

The Astros led by one when Peña singled with two outs in the fifth. Alvarez followed with his soaring longball to right field. His 39 homers are a career best and trail the Rays' Junior Caminero by two for the AL lead.

AJ Blubaugh and Bryan Abreu each threw a scoreless inning before Josh Hader allowed one hit in a scoreless ninth to close it out and collect his 26th save.

Houston starter Hunter Brown (6-3) allowed two hits and a run while tying a season high with 10 strikeouts in five innings.

He had allowed just one hit when he walked Isaac Collins with two outs in the fifth. Collins stole second base before Carter Jensen’s double to left field sent him home.

Vinnie Pasquantino homered off Bennett Sousa with two outs in the sixth to get the Royals within 4-2.

Wacha yielded four hits and four runs in six innings as the Royals lost their third straight.

Up next Royals LHP Daniel Lynch IV (5-5, 3.52 ERA) opposes Astros RHP Cristian Javier (2-5, 5.50) on Wednesday night.

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Scoring Summary

	9th Inning	Tolbert struck out swinging.
	9th Inning	Tolbert hit for Rave
	9th Inning	Loftin popped out to shortstop.
	9th Inning	Perez to second on wild pitch by Hader.
	9th Inning	Loftin hit for Massey
	9th Inning	Perez singled to right.

Statistics

KC		HOU
1	Games Played	1
1	Team Games Played	1
0	Hit By Pitch	1
5	Ground Balls	9
14	Strikeouts	5
2	Runs Batted In	4
0	Sacrifice Hit	0
4	Hits	4
2	Stolen Bases	0
3	Walks	2
0	Catcher Interference	0
2	Runs	4
0	Ground Into Double Play	0
0	Sacrifice Flies	0
31	At Bats	28
1	Home Runs	3
0	Grand Slam Home Runs	0
11	Runners Left On Base	7
0	Triples	0
0	Game Winning RBIs	1
0	Intentional Walks	0
1	Doubles	0
12	Fly Balls	14
0	Caught Stealing	0
138	Pitches	132
0	Games Started	0
3	Pinch At Bats	0
1	Pinch Hits	0
0.0	Player Rating	0.0
1	Is Qualified	1
1	Is Qualified In Steals	0
8	Total Bases	13
34	Plate Appearances	31
162.0	Projected Home Runs	486.0
2	Extra Base Hits	3
1.7	Runs Created	3.2
.129	Batting Average	.143
.333	Pinch Hit Average	.000
.258	Slugging Percentage	.464
.290	Secondary Average	.393
.206	On Base Percentage	.226
.464	OBP Pct + SLG Pct	.690
0.4	Ground To Fly Ball Ratio	0.6
1.7	Runs Created Per 27 Outs	3.6
19.0	Batter Rating	29.0
31.0	At Bats Per Home Run	9.3
1.00	Stolen Base Percentage	0.00
4.06	Pitches Per Plate Appearance	4.26
.129	Isolated Power	.321
0.21	Walk To Strikeout Ratio	0.40
.088	Walks Per Plate Appearance	.065
.161	Secondary Average Minus Batting Average	.250
4.0	Runs Produced	8.0
1.0	Runs Ratio	1.0
0.3	Patience Ratio	0.5
0.2	Balls In Play Average	0.1
66.0	MLB Rating	77.5
0.0	Offensive Wins Above Replacement	0.0
0.0	Wins Above Replacement	0.0