HOUSTON -- Christian Walker snapped an 0-for-11 drought by clubbing his fourth homer of the season in the second inning and the Astros added six runs in the third to snap an eight-game losing streak with a 7-6 win over the Rockies on Tuesday night at Daikin Park.
The Astros, coming off a 1-9 road trip that saw three starting pitchers, their starting center fielder and starting shortstop all wind up on the injured list, stretched their winning streak at Daikin Park to six games.
Houston began play Tuesday tied for the Major League lead in runs scored and quickly wiped out a 3-1 deficit by sending 11 batters to the plate in the third. Yordan Alvarez’s two-run double tied the game, and the Astros took advantage of two Rockies errors to take a 7-3 lead.
With Hunter Brown, Cristian Javier and Tatsuya Imai on the injured list, the Astros summoned left-hander Colton Gordon from Triple-A for his first start of the season. He gave up four runs and eight hits in 3 2/3 innings, including solo homers by Hunter Goodman and Jordan Beck and a two-run triple by Jake McCarthy.
Gordon’s abbreviated outing left the Houston bullpen to carry most of the load, which has been a troubling trend for the Astros early in the season. They’ve had only three starting pitchers work at least six innings in 18 games this year.