WASHINGTON (AP) — Jose Altuve homered, Nick Allen drove in a season-high three runs and the Houston Astros beat the Washington Nationals 6-3 on Tuesday night.
Christian Vázquez drove in two for Houston, which has won three of four.
James Wood hit his 25th home run for Washington, which lost for the third time in four games. The Nationals left 11 men on base and were 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position.
Houston trailed 2-1 before a three-run fourth inning against Andrew Alvarez. After the Astros loaded the bases with one out, Allen slapped a . After Brice Matthews and Allen executed a double steal, Matthews scored on .
Vázquez chased Alvarez (2-2) with an RBI single in the sixth. Alvarez allowed five runs on four hits and five walks in 5 2/3 innings.
Altuve homered with two outs in the eighth into the visitor’s bullpen, where teammate Bryan Abreu caught it between warmup pitches. It was , and his second in two nights.
Nationals pinch hitter against Alimber Santa. Wood singled, and after Santa struck out Andrés Chaparro, the Astros summoned closer Josh Hader. Curtis Mead’s single and CJ Abrams’ walk loaded the bases, but Hader struck out pinch hitter Dylan Crews to earn his 10th save.
Steven Okert (2-1) struck out three in 1 1/3 innings for Houston.
Wood drove Tatsuya Imai’s slider to right-center for his of the season. Wood is the first Nationals player with consecutive 25-homer seasons since Bryce Harper in 2017-18.
Allen’s sacrifice fly tied it in the second. Washington reclaimed the lead on Abrams’ sacrifice fly in the third.
Imai allowed two runs and struck out three in 3 2/3 innings.
Up next
Houston RHP Spencer Arrighetti (7-4, 3.81 ERA) faces Washington LHP Foster Griffin (9-2, 2.87) as the three-game series concludes Wednesday.
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