Jose Altuve had two singles to pass Jeff Bagwell for second on Houston’s career hit list, Shay Whitcomb hit his first major league home run and the Astros beat the Colorado Rockies 5-3 in Denver on Wednesday night.
Altuve now has 2,315 hits, one more than Bagwell amassed for the Astros in his Hall of Fame career. Another Hall of Famer, Craig Biggio, is Houston’s all-time leader with 3,060 hits.
Cam Smith had three hits and Cooper Hummel, Christian Walker, Yainer Diaz and Isaac Paredes each had two hits of the Astros’ 16 hits.
Astros starter Hunter Brown (9-3) gave up two runs on six hits and a walk while striking out eight in six innings. Bennett Sousa picked up his third save for Houston, which has won three in a row and eight of its past nine.
Mickey Moniak homered, Tyler Freeman had three hits to extend his on-base streak to 17 games, Thairo Estrada also collected three hits and Yanquiel Fernandez went 0-for-3 in his major league debut for Colorado.
Rockies starter Austin Gomber allowed two runs on eight hits in five innings. He walked one and struck out one as Colorado fell for the 10th time in 12 games.
Houston broke a 2-2 tie in the sixth inning against the Rockies’ bullpen. Hummel singled, and one out later, Mauricio Dubon walked. After Angel Chivilli (1-4) retired Paredes, Jake Bird entered and hit Jake Meyers with a pitch to load the bases. Altuve followed with a two-run single, and Smith drove in Meyers with a single that ricocheted off Bird’s leg.
The Astros had a chance to pad their lead in the seventh inning on Dubon’s two-out double to right field, but Hummel was thrown out at home trying to score from first base.
The Rockies got a run in the ninth when Brenton Doyle scored on a double-play grounder.
The Astros went ahead 1-0 on Smith’s RBI single in the first inning, and Whitcomb added a solo home run in the second. Colorado tied it in the bottom of the second on Moniak’s two-run homer, his 12th of the season.
Colorado had a chance to take the lead in the fifth inning when they had two on and one out, but Brown ended his night by striking out Hunter Goodman and getting Jordan Beck to ground out to third.
