Tampa Bay came to Daikin Park with the best record in the American League, winners of 8 straight games.
They will leave Daikin Park still with the best record in the AL, but on a 2 game skid.
Peter Lambert (W, 7-5) went 5.2 IP scoreless, backed by Steven Okert, Bryan King and Josh Hader (S, 9) to combine for a 4 hit shutout of the Rays (52-35) 2-0.
The Astros (45-47) got solo homers from Christian Walker (20) and Isaac Paredes (12), which proved to be the only runs of the game, and all Astros pitching
would need to take the series from the Rays. Houston has now won 6 of its last 7 series.
The Astros are currently 2 GB of Seattle in the AL West (pending tonight’s action) and 1GB Texas for the final Wild Card spot.
Lambert was terrific, allowing only 3 hits and 1 walk while striking out 6. He threw 60 of his 90 pitches for strikes and got 5 ground ball outs.
Walker got the Astros on the board in the 4th when he took a four-seamer from Mason Englert (L, 0-2) opposite field for a solo shot.
Paredes got Englert 2 innings later when he blasted a changeup 401 feet to left.
Josh Hader struck out 2 in the 9th for his 9th save of the season.
Houston will now travel to the nation’s capital for a 3 game series with the Washington Nationals starting tomorrow.
Astros-Nationals probables:
Mon: RHP Mike Burrows (4-8, 5.58 ERA) vs. RHP Miles Mikolas (2-7, 5.44 ERA)
Tue: RHP Tatsuya Imai (5-4, 6.14 ERA) vs. LHP Andrew Alvarez (2-1, 3.o5 ERA)
Wed: RHP Spencer Arrighetti (7-4, 3.81 ERA) vs. LHP Foster Griffin (9-2, 2.87 ERA)
