Reds 4, Astros 1: Jay Bruce homered and drove in a pair of runs and Mike Leake tossed seven solid innings as visiting Cincinnati handed Houston its season-high seventh straight loss.
Joey Votto singled in the first inning to extend his hitting streak to eight games overall and 19 consecutive outings at Minute Maid Park. He then gave the Reds a 3-0 lead in the third inning with an RBI single off J.A. Happ (4-5).
Brandon Phillips had an RBI double and scored on Bruce's RBI single in the first inning as the Reds won for the 10th time in their last 13 contests.
Leake (2-5) scattered two hits in his first five innings before running into trouble in the sixth. He surrendered two quick singles, but induced a double-play ball to Carlos Lee which scored a run but took the steam out of Houston's uprising.
Leake allowed one run on four hits to post his second straight win. Logan Ondrusek worked a scoreless eighth inning before Aroldis Chapman struck out the side in the ninth for his fourth save.
Happ permitted three runs on five hits and struck out seven to suffer the loss.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Cincinnati has certainly enjoyed playing Houston over the last few years. The Reds are 34-16 versus the Astros since 2009. ... Leake, who yielded six runs in a 6-4 loss to Houston on April 27, improved to 3-4 in his career against the Astros.
Cincinnati | Houston | |
Mike Leake | Player | J.A. Happ |
Win | W/L | Loss |
7.0 | IP | 7.0 |
7 | Strikeouts | 7 |
4 | Hits | 5 |
1.29 | ERA | 3.86 |
Cincinnati | Houston | |
Jay Bruce | Player | Jed Lowrie |
2 | Hits | 1 |
2 | RBI | 0 |
1 | HR | 0 |
5 | TB | 1 |
.500 | Avg | .500 |
Team | Hits | HR | TB | Avg | LOB | K | RBI | BB | SB | Errors |
Cincinnati | 6 | 1 | 10 | .194 | 6 | 9 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
Houston | 5 | 0 | 5 | .167 | 14 | 10 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 |