HOUSTON — Christian Walker cranked a pair of solo homers, including a go-ahead blast on the first pitch thrown in the eighth inning by reliever Luis Peralta, to send the Astros to a series win over the Rockies with a 4-3 victory Thursday afternoon at Daikin Park.
The multihomer game was the 15th of Walker’s career and his first while with the Astros, giving him 21 homers in his first season in Houston. He leads the team with 74 RBIs.
Back-to-back two-out homers by Jose Altuve and Walker in the first inning — the Astros’ first back-to-back homers since July 6 at Dodger Stadium — got the Astros going, and catcher César Salazar’s squeeze bunt in the second scored Mauricio Dubón to make it 3-0.
Astros starter Jason Alexander got off a quick start, too, striking out five of the first six batters he faced. He wound up giving up three runs, including solo homers to Ezequiel Tovar and Yanquiel Fernández, in 5 2/3 innings and struck out a career-high eight batters while taking a no-decision.
