Houston never trailed, and that told the story. The Astros built their lead early, broke it open in the fifth, and let Tatsuya Imai and the bullpen do the rest in a 5-3 win over the Miami Marlins at Daikin Park.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MIA | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 1 |
| HOU | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | X | 5 | 8 | 0 |
Imai was the difference. The right-hander worked six innings, allowing four hits and one run while striking out eight. He walked three but kept the Marlins off balance all night, improving to 6-4 with a 5.59 ERA. Josh Hader closed it out with a scoreless inning, striking out one for his 11th save.
Jeremy Pena opened the scoring in the first inning, homering to left center. Houston added a run in the second when Lucas Spence doubled to right, driving in Wade. But the game turned in the fifth, when Isaac Paredes hit a three-run homer to left, scoring Pena and Alvarez and pushing the score to 5-1. Paredes finished 2-for-4 with three RBI and a homer. Miami had trimmed the deficit earlier in that same inning on Kyle Stowers' double that brought home Lopez.
Tyler Phillips took the loss for Miami, allowing three runs over 4.1 innings with five hits and two walks. The Marlins' bullpen kept them within range, and Joe Mack cut into the lead in the seventh with a two-run homer to right center that scored Sanoja, but it wasn't enough to complete the comeback. Miami finished with eight hits but stranded too many chances against Houston's pitching.
The result snapped Houston's skid into a second straight win, improving to 49-54. Miami, meanwhile, dropped its eighth in a row to fall to 52-50. Yordan Alvarez went 2-for-4 and sits three runs scored shy of 500 for his career, a milestone now within close reach.