ASTROS GAMER: Houston ends its road trip with a defeat against San Francisco

The Houston Astros defeated the San Francisco Giants 5-3 Wednesday afternoon at Oracle Park. The victory secured the series for the Giants and the Astros fell to 31-38 as a result.

HOW DID IT HAPPEN:

The Giants sent right-hander Logan Webb to the hill for this game. Webb had a strong first inning, allowing a baserunner but getting out of the frame with no runs allowed.

The Astros responded with Framber Valdez, who was coming off a complete game in his last outing. He matched Webb in the first, allowing a runner to reach but keeping the Giants off the scoreboard.

Both pitchers faced off again with zeros in the second, but San Francisco’s offense got going in the third. Wilmer Flores hit a sacrifice fly for an RBI, and Matt Chapman followed with an RBI double. This made the score 2-0 in favor of the Giants.

Houston would get one of those runs in the top of the fourth, as Jeremy Pena brought one in on an infield single. This made the score 2-1, but this score would not last long.

In the bottom half of the same inning, Austin Slater brought home two more on a single for San Francisco. This was followed by a sac fly from Heliot Ramos to make the score 5-1 at the end of the game. Valdez came out of that round, but that would be the end of his day.

Webb was effective in keeping Houston’s offense at bay, but he ran into some issues in the sixth. Yordan Alvarez launched a two-run homer, cutting the lead in half and making it 5-3. Webb finished this inning to complete his outing after six innings.

In the final innings, the Astros couldn’t do anything against the Giants bullpen. They failed to score any runs in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings and lost by a final score of 5-3.

BIG NUMBER: 5

Framber Valdez allowed five runs in that outing, putting the Astros behind early on. The offense wasn’t able to do enough to dig the team out of that hole, and it contributed to the loss.

PLAYER OF THE GAME: Logan Webb

Webb has had a solid season so far, and that continued on Wednesday. He had a quality start, allowing three runs in six innings. He also struck out five and walked no one.

UP NEXT: The Astros will have an off day tomorrow before returning home to Minute Maid Park to begin a three-game series against the Detroit Tigers on Friday. The first pitch of this one is set for 7:10 and you can hear it on ESPN 103.7 Lafayette 104.1 Lake Charles.