Walker homers AGAIN to lift Astros to series win in slugfest

BALTIMORE -- Christian Walker can’t pinpoint an exact moment from earlier in the season, but the Houston slugger said he wasn’t performing up to his standards, and maybe some Astros fans agree when it comes to their newly acquired first baseman.

Perhaps things are on a different track these days for Walker, who clubbed his third home run in as many games and helped lift Houston past Baltimore, 9-8, on Saturday night at Camden Yards.

Walker’s two-run shot in the seventh inning off Orioles reliever Dietrich Enns gave the Astros the lead in a high-scoring matchup that led to their third consecutive victory.

“I don’t really know why but I think earlier in the year I developed some bad habits,” said Walker, who came to Houston this offseason on a three-year, $60 million contract after spending eight years in Arizona. “And I think now is just the back end of a few months of consistent work, trying to figure out what makes me good. And it’s the ability to hit balls hard, but hit balls hard in the air.”

Walker did just that in the seventh.

Houston (72-58) had a runner on second base with two outs when Walker crushed an 0-1 pitch from Enns that cleared the left-field wall and traveled a Statcast-projected 414 feet. The blast, Walker’s 19th on the season, put the Astros ahead 9-7.

“I knew [Enns] struck me out when we were at home, started me with a fastball in,” Walker said, referring to Houston’s series last week against the Orioles (59-70). “I wasn’t necessarily sitting changeup there but I felt like I put a good enough swing on that first heater to make them maybe go to something else."

Bryan Abreu hurled a scoreless ninth to earn his third save of the year.

AJ Blubaugh got the win in relief (2-1) on the day he was recalled from Triple-A Sugar Land after he tossed four innings and struck out four. Houston used four relief pitchers after Cristian Javier went two innings and allowed five runs (three earned) against four walks.

Offense carried the day, however, and Astros manager Joe Espada said he was glad to see it.

“We’re starting to swing the bats,” Espada said. “I know that that’s who we are. We’re picking each other up. … Javier, we’ll get going here soon, coming back from [Tommy John surgery], and it takes time. It’s his third outing, and we’re going to get him right.

“But our team, how we stay together and we grind, and we win that game. … That’s what good teams do."

Orioles starter Dean Kremer came into Saturday’s contest sporting a 4-0 record and a 1.47 ERA in his previous five career starts against Houston, but he fell behind, 5-0, in the first behind homers from Carlos Correa, Jesús Sánchez, and Victor Caratini.

The Orioles chipped away to erase the 5-0 lead and then came back from being down 7-5 as well, when Colton Cowser’s leadoff home run in the fifth inning, a 400-foot blast and the second off Blubaugh, evened things up at 7-7.

Kremer allowed seven runs (six earned) and seven hits, and the three home runs. The Orioles bailed him out with an offensive surge after that.

But the Astros prevailed and clinched a series win, while also preventing the Mariners from gaining any ground in the tight AL West division race as September looms.

“Keep going, keep doing what we’re doing,” Walker said. “I think when you feel like you’re getting derailed a little bit, it’s easy to kind of freak out and have a knee-jerk reaction. But I think there’s enough trust in this lineup and in this clubhouse that if we go out and play our hardest and try our best for 162, it’s going to work out in our favor more times than not.”