Clay Buchholz won his first game in just over a year on Saturday afternoon, allowing two runs in 5 2/3 innings to help the Toronto Blue Jays beat the visiting Houston Astros 6-4 in the middle game of their three-game series.
Buchholz (1-3) gave up three hits while striking out three and walking five. He walked the leadoff batter in four of the first five innings, but benefited from four double plays as Houston scored just once in that span.
Cavan Biggio homered for the second straight game, and Teoscar Hernandez also hit a two-run blast off Astros starter Framber Valdez. Bo Bichette had two hits and scored two runs, and Brandon Drury also had two hits for Toronto.
Valdez (4-7) took a step back from his previous outing, allowing six runs and nine hits in 5 2/3 innings. The rookie left-hander struck out five and walked three.
Yuli Gurriel had two hits and two RBIs, and Alex Bregman walked three times and drove in two runs for the Astros.
Valdez allowed three baserunners in the first two innings, but avoided trouble until the third. He walked back-to-back batters with one out in the inning before giving up an RBI single to Randal Grichuk.
Hernandez, who came up through the Houston organization before he was traded to Blue Jays in 2017, then blasted his two-run homer for a 3-1 lead.
Biggio, the son of Hall of Fame second baseman Craig Biggio, who played his entire 21-year career with the Astros, went deep in the fourth with Bichette aboard to stretch the lead to 5-1.
Buchholz got the first two outs in the sixth before walking Bregman. The Blue Jays brought in left-hander Tim Mayza, who walked No. 4 hitter Yordan Alvarez and then gave up a two-run double to Gurriel to cut the deficit to 5-3.
Biggio doubled in Bichette in the sixth to make it 6-3, but the Astros got the run back in the seventh on a bases-loaded walk to Bregman.
The Astros combined to strand five runners in the seventh and eighth innings against Toronto relievers Derek Law, Buddy Boshers and Jordan Romano before Ken Giles struck out the side in the ninth for his 18th save.
--Field Level Media
Houston | Toronto | |
Framber Valdez | Player | Clay Buchholz |
Loss | W/L | Win |
5.2 | IP | 5.2 |
5 | Strikeouts | 3 |
9 | Hits | 3 |
9.53 | ERA | 3.18 |
Houston | Toronto | |
Yuli Gurriel | Player | Cavan Biggio |
2 | Hits | 2 |
2 | RBI | 3 |
0 | HR | 1 |
3 | TB | 6 |
1.000 | Avg | .667 |