ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Jose Urquidy scattered four hits over seven shutout innings and the Houston Astros made an early lead stand up, beating the Tampa Bay Rays 3-1 Saturday.
Jose Altuve doubled on the first pitch of the game, leading to a three-run inning. Houston got three hits in the first inning and only one more the rest of the game.
Urquidy (2-2) walked one and struck out five in winning his second straight start. He retired 11 in a row in one stretch and allowed only one runner to get as far as second base.
Brooks Raley and Ryan Pressley pitched the final two innings for Houston. Pressley earned his fifth save in five tries after giving up a run on Yandy Diaz’s groundball.
Alex Bregman hit an RBI single and Yuli Gurriel had a two-run single as the Astros won for the eighth time in 10 games.
Josh Fleming (1-3) gave up three runs on three hits and five walks in six innings.
Urquidy became the second straight Astros pitcher to shut the Rays out through seven innings, following Lance McCullers on Friday night in the series opener.
Brandon Lowe had two hits for the Rays, who have scored 20 runs on 56 hits while striking out 91 times in the first nine games of their 10-game homestand.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Astros: RHP Jake Odorizzi (right prorator muscle strain) threw on flat ground Saturday and will throw again Sunday before pitching on a mound.
Rays: LHP Rich Hill (COVID-19-related IL) and LHP Cody Reed (left thumb strain) were activated.
UP NEXT
RHP Christian Javier (3-0, 0.87), who gave up two hits in seven shutout innings against Seattle on Tuesday night, will make his fifth start in Sunday’s series finale against Rays LHP Rich Hill (1-1, 7.25 ). Hill has recovered from vaccine side effects.
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