Spencer Arrighetti struck out 10 batters in his season debut and Yordan Alvarez slugged his seventh home run, as the Houston Astros claimed an interleague series victory against the visiting Colorado Rockies with a 3-1 win on Wednesday.
Elevated to the taxi squad on Tuesday, Arrighetti (1-0) became the second starter to debut for the Astros in as many days. With Houston down three injured starters, Arrighetti followed Colton Gordon and joined the makeshift rotation after starting the season with Triple-A Sugar Land.
Arrighetti capitalized on the opportunity. He stranded a pair of baserunners in the top of the first inning and, after surrendering an RBI double to Willi Castro in the second, quickly settled in.
Castro plated Ezequiel Tovar and cut the Rockies’ deficit to 2-1. Arrighetti followed by striking out Jake McCarthy and Edouard Julien to strand Castro at second. He then fanned three batters in the third before loading the bases with a two-out walk to Julien in the fourth. Arrighetti escaped the pickle by getting a called third strike on Mikey Moniak.
Arrighetti fanned Hunter Goodman and Kyle Karros in the fifth and struck out Jordan Beck to close the sixth, stranding McCarthy at second. He allowed one run on two hits and walked four. Arrighetti threw 100 pitches, 61 for strikes. He hit two batters with pitches, Troy Johnston in the first and Castro in the fourth. Both batters left the game.
The Astros were quick to spot Arrighetti a lead, posting a two-spot in the bottom of the first off Rockies left-hander Jose Quintana (0-1).
Carlos Correa, Alvarez, and Isaac Paredes walked in succession to open the first against Quintana, who was recalled from the 15-day injured list to make his second start of the season. Christian Walker and Cam Smith followed the string of free passes with consecutive sacrifice flies that plated Correa and Alvarez and spotted the Astros a 2-0 lead.
Alvarez led off the third with a 375-foot blast to right field. Quintana allowed three runs on three hits and four walks with one strikeout over 3 2/3 innings.
Relievers Steven Okert, Bryan Abreu, and Enyel De Los Santos covered the final three innings for Houston; De Los Santos recorded his second save of the series.
