Jose Siri homered twice and added a two-run single in his first big league start, Yordan Alvarez hit a pair of 400-foot homers and the AL West-leading Houston Astros overwhelmed the last-place Texas Rangers 15-1 on Monday night.
Siri finished 4 for 5 with five RBIs while scoring three times for the Astros (84-59). Alex Bregman added a two-run homer, while Carlos Correa and Jose Altuve had two-run doubles. Houston built a 9-0 lead after scoring multiple runs in each of the first three innings off three Texas pitchers.
Houston starter Jake Odorizzi left with right foot soreness after coming off the mound and running to cover first base for the first out of the second inning.
Cristian Javier (4-1), the first of five relievers after Odorizzi, struck out six with one walk while allowing one run over 2 2/3 innings.
Get DFW local news, weather forecasts and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC DFW newsletters.
Rangers starter Spencer Howard allowed six runs in 1 1/3 innings. After retiring Bregman on a 10-pitch strikeout in the second inning, Alvarez greeted reliever Wes Benjamin with a 401-foot, two-run homer to right-center field.
Alvarez had his eighth career multi-homer game, and first 30-homer season, when he added a 422-foot solo drive in the seventh inning.
With left fielder Michael Brantley missing his second game in a row because of right knee discomfort, manager Dusty Baker put the 26-year-old rookie Siri in the starting lineup for the first time in his sixth major league game. While Baker wanted to take advantage of his speed and ability to cover a lot of ground in the spacious outfield, the bat turned out to be pretty big.
Texas Rangers - World Series Champions
Batting eighth, Siri led off the second with a single and scored on Altuve's double. He added a two-run homer in the third, a two-run single in the sixth and a solo homer in the eighth.
BIG MARGINS
The 14-run victory matched the largest this season for the Astros, who in their last game at Texas on Aug. 29 suffered their most lopsided loss (13-2). The 14-run loss matched the largest by Texas this season.
UNBLEMISHED NO MORE
Siri's first homer came off A.J. Alexy, who was pitching in relief as planned for his third career outing. Alexy entered having thrown 11 scoreless innings and allowing only one hit in each of his first two starts. He had been the first pitcher in major league history to throw at least five scoreless innings while giving up one or no hits in his first two career appearances. He gave up six runs over 3 2/3 innings against the Astros.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Astros: Baker said before the game that Brantley, among the AL leaders with his .315 batting average, was doing OK. ... C Jason Castro (right knee discomfort) and 1B Taylor Jones (COVID-19 injury list) started injury rehab assignments for Triple-A Sugar Land.
Rangers: RF Adolis Garcia was hit by a pitch on his left wrist in the third inning. He stayed in the game and didn't come out until Jason Martin took over in right field in the eighth inning of the lopsided game. ... OF Will Calhoun (left forearm) and INF Andy Ibanez (left hamstring) started rehab assignments at Triple-A Round Rock. 3B Brock Holt (COVID-19 injury list)also played in that game, and could rejoin the Rangers as soon as Tuesday.
UP NEXT
Astros RHP Zach Greinke (11-5, 3.66 ERA) is scheduled to make his first start since testing positive for COVID-19 last month. His last start was 16 days earlier when he gave up six runs over four innings in a loss at Texas on Aug. 29. Texas RHP Jordan Lyles (8-11, 5.43) won his last out in Arizona last week when he pitched seven innings in relief.
