BALTIMORE — Stunned by an early barrage of home runs, the Houston Astros put on an offensive show of their own to emphatically end a five-game losing streak.
Jose Altuve homered and had five RBIs, and Houston rallied to beat the Baltimore Orioles 15-8 on Friday night despite allowing four homers in the first inning.
George Springer went 4 for 5 with a home run for the Astros, who also got long balls from Evan Gattis and Teoscar Hernandez.
Early on, Houston appeared destined to drop to .500 for the first time since June 1.
The Orioles became the first team in the modern era (since 1900) to open a game with four home runs before making an out, according to STATS. Adam Jones hit Collin McHugh’s first pitch into the seats in left field and Hyun Soo Kim singled before Manny Machado, Chris Davis and Mark Trumbo homered in succession.
Houston answered with a five-run second to go up 6-5. Altuve capped the surge with a two-run double with two outs to chase Wade Miley, who matched the shortest start of his career.
"You go from really being shell-shocked in the first with the home runs — to knocking out their starter in the top of the second," Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. "It’s hard to describe, because you’re not used to seeing that at this level. But that was quite an outburst for us."
Springer said, "The key to that game was that second inning."
When the Astros finally got done running around the bases, they had a victory to savour.
"I know that this game is going to create some momentum," Altuve said, "and we’re going to keep winning games."
Altuve became the first Astro to have 20 homers and 20 steals in a season since Carlos Beltran in 2004.
The Orioles, meanwhile, have 11 home runs in the first two games of this series. But Baltimore didn’t have enough firepower in this one to overcome its poor pitching, which surrendered a season-high 15 runs and 18 hits.
Miley was the most obvious culprit. Staked to a 5-1 lead, he got two more outs before being lifted.
"It was terrible. It’s embarrassing for that to happen," he said. "I flat-out stunk."
The left-hander is 0-2 with a 9.53 ERA in four starts since being traded from Seattle on July 31.
Chris Devenski (2-4) allowed one hit in four innings for the Astros after McHugh yielded seven runs and nine hits in three innings.
"I don’t know if I’ve ever been blitzed like that before in my career," the right-hander said. "Today’s game in general was kind of a crazy."
Springer provided a glimpse of things to come by hitting a leadoff homer on the fifth pitch from Miley.
After the teams traded five-run innings, Baltimore went up 7-6 in the third and Houston pulled even in the fourth.
The Astros took a 9-7 lead against Ubaldo Jimenez (5-10) in the fifth. Hernandez blooped an RBI single to centre and Springer greeted Tyler Wilson with a run-scoring single.
Pedro Alvarez homered in the bottom half before Houston pulled away in the sixth, getting a two-run homer from Altuve and a solo shot from Gattis.
ROSTER MOVES
Astros: Optioned reliever James Hoyt to Triple-A Fresno and recalled Brad Peacock from the same club. "We need some fresh arms up here," Hinch said.
Orioles: Optioned Wilson to Triple-A Norfolk after the game.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Astros: OF Jake Marisnick got the night off as he tries to work through a sore groin. He’s played in only two games since Aug. 11. "He’s not moving quite at full speed," Hinch said.
Orioles: OF Joey Rickard (thumb) won’t be ready to play when rosters expand on Sept. 1, manager Buck Showalter said.
UP NEXT
Astros: Mike Fiers (8-6, 4.66 ERA) makes his 88th career start Saturday, facing the Orioles for the first time.
Orioles: Chris Tillman (15-4, 3.46) gets the call after having his start Wednesday pushed back because of a sore right shoulder.
