Cleveland Guardians second baseman Andres Gimenez, right, forces out Houston Astros’ Kyle Tucker (30) at second base and throws out Jose Altuve at first base to complete the double play during the eighth inning of a 1-0 win over the Astros on Sunday in Cleveland.
CLEVELAND — In his previous start against Houston, Guardians pitcher Triston McKenzie delivered one of his finest outings of the season, allowing a run on three hits in seven innings as Cleveland picked up a win back on May 23.
McKenzie decided to go one better on Sunday, tossing a brilliant eight frames on just 90 pitches against the Astros in a 1-0 victory at Progressive Field.
Luke Maile’s fifth-inning solo home run to the porch in left against Astros starter Cristian Javier provided the only run in the game. It was Maile’s first home run with Cleveland and his first since 2019 when he played for Toronto.
Emmanuel Clase pitched a scoreless ninth for his 24th save in 26 chances. His 24 saves are second in the American League behind Toronto’s Jordan Romano.
The win salvaged a series split and snapped Cleveland’s streak of four straight series losses to the Astros dating back to July 2019. It marked the Guardians’ first shutout win against Houston since July of 2015 and was the first time Cleveland won a 1-0 game with a solo home run since a Jake Bauers shot beat Seattle in April of 2019.
Manager Terry Francona praised McKenzie for navigating a tough Houston lineup with efficiency.
“He was pumping strikes right from the get-go and they were ultra-aggressive early in the count, but he didn’t give up any damage,” Francona said. “Then he started spinning the breaking ball.”
McKenzie retired 18 consecutive Houston hitters before issuing a walk to pinch-hitter Kyle Tucker in the eighth. But pinch-hitter Jose Altuve grounded into a double play started by José Ramírez that brought McKenzie’s outing to an emphatic end.
McKenzie (8-8, 3.16) struck out eight and walked one. He allowed just two hits on back-to-back singles by Trey Mancini and Chas McCormick in the second, but fought back to end the inning by striking out Mauricio Dubon and Jake Meyers.
Earning a series split against Houston was important, McKenzie said.
“Being able to keep them off balance and being able to get them out of the box quickly (was key),” McKenzie said. “They’re a team that does damage when they’re able to have really good at-bats consistently, so if you’re able to take that out and have some quick outs, it messes up the rhythm and allows us to kind of just find a rhythm out on defense.”
Maile said McKenzie is at his best when he can throw strikes on the outside part of the plate with his fastball to right-handed hitters.
“More often than not, those are the days when his breaking stuff plays best,” Maile said. “To me, it’s about as simple as that.”
It was McKenzie’s fourth career start of seven or more shutout innings while allowing three or fewer baserunners, the most in franchise history for a pitcher 26 years old or younger. He is 3-0 with a 0.41 ERA across 22 innings with a 0.41 WHIP in three combined starts against Houston and the Yankees, the two top clubs in the American League.
Maile, meanwhile, said he was not looking for a particular pitch when he homered on a 93 mph Javier fastball.
“He got me 0-2 pretty quick and then there was a fastball up that I checked my swing on,” Maile said. “I thought if anything he might have sped me up a little bit, so I had to focus on getting started just a little earlier, but I hadn’t really seen his slider to the other side of the plate yet, so I had that in the back of my mind, too.”
McKenzie’s effort was aided by another strong performance by Cleveland’s defense, which saw shortstop Amed Rosario rob Houston’s Jeremy Pena of a single in the third with a sliding stop and spinning throw. Owen Miller snagged a high throw from Ramírez in the seventh and applied the tag to Alex Bregman off first base with a tag.
“He’s just really fun to play with,” Maile said of Rosario. “The plays he’s made have been big plays; momentum-keepers, momentum-savers. He has a flair for that, honestly. It’s a fun team to be a part of and he’s just one of the examples of guys (where) you don’t see that type of talent every day.”
Francona said McKenzie also deserved some credit for keeping his defense engaged throughout a game that featured steamy temperatures and a brief cloudburst that did not ultimately delay the game. The only holdup occurred at the top of the seventh inning as umpires paused play in order to get the stadium lights switched on.
“It’s a lot easier to play defense when a guy is working quick and throwing strikes,” Francona said.
Javier (6-8, 3.14) limited Cleveland to six hits, including a pair of singles for Steven Kwan. He did not walk a batter and struck out four in six innings. Oscar Gonzalez added two hits for the Guardians, including a single in the eighth against Houston’s Rafael Montero.
Kwan’s 26th multi-hit game ties him for second-most among rookies behind Seattle’s Julio Rodriguez. The Guardians are 20-6 when Kwan records at least two hits in a game.
The Guardians are off today before opening a six-game road trip Tuesday that includes stops in Detroit and Toronto. Right-hander Shane Bieber (6-6, 3.39) will open the series against the Tigers and lefty Tyler Alexander (2-5, 4.04).
