Cristian Javier returns and wins 2025 debut as Astros trim Red Sox
The Astros produced a surprising offensive showing against Red Sox ace Garrett Crochet (13-5) and survived a late-inning rally from the Red Sox, who strung together five two-out hits in their four-run seventh to whittle down a five-run deficit.
Houston erased a 2-0 deficit by posting a three-run third that featured an opposite-field RBI single from Carlos Correa and a two-run double by Christian Walker. The Astros extended that lead to 5-2 an inning later when McCormick blasted his first home run of the season to left-center field, driving home Urias, who opened that frame with a double.
Crochet allowed a season-high-tying five earned runs while logging four innings, his fewest this season. He surrendered seven hits and one walk while recording five strikeouts.
Urias socked a two-run homer off Red Sox reliever Jordan Hicks for a 7-2 lead in the fifth.
Boston initiated its uprising against Astros reliever Hector Neris, starting with a solo homer from Abraham Toro. Ceddanne Rafaela and pinch-hitter Masataka Yoshida followed with back-to-back doubles before Roman Anthony clubbed a two-run homer, his third, off Astros reliever Steven Okert.
Anthony struck out against Astros reliever Bennett Sousa with the tying run on second base to end the game.
Javier (1-0), making his first appearance since May 21, 2024, had an inauspicious start to his outing.
The first three batters in the top of the first reached safely against him, with Alex Bregman following a leadoff single from Anthony with his 15th home run, a 350-foot shot to left that spotted the Red Sox a 2-0 lead. Javier then issued a walk to Jarren Duran before finally finding his footing by recording three consecutive outs to complete his 23-pitch opening frame.
Javier allowed just two baserunners over the remainder of his outing. Duran, with his two-out single in the third, was the last batter to reach against Javier, who retired the final seven Red Sox he faced. McCormick put an exclamation point to end the top of the fifth when he tracked a 408-foot blast from Anthony to the wall in center field for a dramatic final out of that inning.
Javier allowed two runs on three hits and two walks with five strikeouts over five innings.
--Field Level Media
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