Ty France went 4-for-4 with a double and Santiago Espinal continued his torrid post-All-Star break run with two hits and two RBIs, leading the Cincinnati Reds to a 5-3 win over the visiting Houston Astros on Monday afternoon.
The Reds snapped Houston’s five-game win streak and continued Cincinnati’s recent dominance over the Astros. Cincinnati (66-73) has won seven straight in the interleague series, dating to Houston’s last win in 2016. Cincinnati swept the season series in 2023 and in 2019.
Cincinnati, which won 4-3 in 11 innings Sunday against the Milwaukee Brewers, captured consecutive victories for the first time since winning four in a row from Aug. 11 to Aug. 14.
Carson Spiers (5-5) allowed one run and three hits over 2 1/3 innings of relief to earn his fifth win. Justin Wilson entered with a runner on second and two outs in the ninth and retired slugger Yordan Alvarez to earn his second save in four chances this season.
Yainer Diaz had two hits and drove in all three runs for Houston (75-63), including a two-run single in the third to tie the score at 2-2.
Justin Verlander (3-5) had a rough start, walking the first three batters he faced in the first inning. Two of them scored on a TJ Friedl sacrifice fly and a two-out single to center from France as the Reds claimed a 2-0 first-inning lead.
Verlander then rebounded to toss three scoreless innings before the Reds knocked him out of the game on a two-out single from Espinal that gave the Reds a 4-2 lead. Since July 8, Espinal is batting a major league-best .419 (44-for-105) to raise his average to .270.
Amed Rosario followed with a sharp single to center, driving home Espinal to give Cincinnati a 5-2 cushion.
Verlander was charged with five runs on eight hits in just 4 2/3 innings, matching his second-shortest outing of the year.
The Astros put four runners on base in the sixth against Cincinnati reliever Spiers but failed to score. Jeremy Pena grounded into a 5-4-3 double play and Jason Heyward grounded out to third with the bases loaded.
Making the start for Cincinnati on just three days’ rest because of an injury-ravaged rotation, Julian Aguiar tossed just 2 2/3 innings, allowing two runs on two hits with two walks and two strikeouts.