Jeremy Peña homered twice, part of a three-hit night as the Royals fell to the Astros 4-2 in the series opener Tuesday night. Michael Wacha gave up four runs in six innings, ending a streak of four consecutive Quality Starts.
Peña got the Astros on the board quickly, leading off the bottom of the first with a homer. In the third, he went deep again, his 19th of the year to make it 2-0 Houston. The Royals squandered a scoring opportunity in the fourth with two runners on when Hunter Brown struck out
Vinnie Pasquantino and Michael Massey to end the threat.
The Royals finally got on the board in the next inning, and it almost didn’t happen. With two outs, it appeared Isaac Collins was called out on strikes. But he challenged the call, and it turned out to be a ball, leading to a walk. He stole second, then scored on an RBI double by Carter Jensen. It was the 58th extra-base hit for Jensen this year, setting a Royals club record for rookies.
But the Astros pulled away in the bottom of the inning. Peña hit a one-out single, and likely AL MVP Yordan Alvarez put one in the seats for a two-run blast, his 39th of the year.
Vinnie Pasquantino homered in the sixth, a solo shot. It was his 12th of the year, but his sixth in his last 23 games. Salvador Perez pinch hit in the ninth and blooped a single to bring the tying run up against Astros closer Josh Hader, but the lefty shut the door, retiring Nick Loftin and Tyler Tolbert to end the game.
The Royals fall to 66-85. They’ll take on the Astros again tomorrow night with Daniel Lynch IV taking on Cristian Javier at 7:10.
