McHugh has tough time as win streak ends

HOUSTON -- For a guy that hadn't lost a game in nearly 10 months, Astros right-hander Collin McHugh wasn't about to accept his performance Tuesday night at Minute Maid Park.

McHugh saw his 11-game winning streak -- one shy of the club record -- come to an end when he gave up seven runs (three earned) and seven hits in a season-low 4 2/3 innings in an 8-1 loss to the Giants. It was his first loss since July 27, 2014.

"It's over now, right, so we can stop talking about it?" a frustrated McHugh said. "Good."

There were two moments Tuesday that hurt McHugh the most. After hitting Brandon Crawford with a two-strike pitch to load the bases with no outs in the second, Matt Duffy shot a three-run double to left field to put the Giants ahead, 3-0.

"He had a hard time managing innings," manager A.J. Hinch said.

McHugh retired 10 in a row before the Giants loaded the bases with one out in the fifth. After striking out Brandon Belt, Justin Maxwell hit a ball to the hole at shortstop, where Marwin Gonzalez backhanded the ball and made a leaping throw to Jose Altuve covering second that went wide. Two runs scored on the play, and the Giants tacked on three more in the inning for an 8-1 lead.

"Ideally, you knock that down anyway, but it's a do-or-die play," Hinch said. "Marwin catches it, a backhand, jumps, turns, throws ... a lot of activity going on there. It was a great play if you make it. Turned out to be a costly one that we didn't.

"All in all, that inning, there was a lot going on. You have an inning you give up three and then you give up five, those aren't good nights."

McHugh didn't mince any words about his performance.

"Not good," he said. "Stuff was pretty bad, pretty below average today. You could pretty much tell from the get-go. Command wasn't there and stuff wasn't there. Pretty bad combination."