HOUSTON -- The return of Carlos Correa to the city in which he enjoyed tremendous success with the Astros was met with excitement from former teammates like Lance McCullers Jr., Jose Altuve and even Marwin Gonzalez, the retired infielder who was on the field pregame in street clothes.
The team always extends a warm welcome at Daikin Park to core players from their championship runs, but the next wave of up-and-coming Astros are ready to start building their own legacies.
Cam Smith ignited the offense with a two-run single in the first inning, Jacob Melton went 2-for-2 with three RBIs and left-hander Colton Gordon held the Twins to two solo homers in six innings as the rookies led the Astros to their third consecutive win, 10-3, on Friday night.
“Some of these guys go down and these guys always kind of find a way that ‘OK, it’s my turn,’” Astros manager Joe Espada said. “That’s so much fun to watch from my seat. We get these young kids coming up here and just growing, rising to the moment. We need that.”
Don’t worry, Houston’s veterans chipped in, too. Altuve was 2-for-4 with a homer and Jeremy Peña was 4-for-5 with two runs scored and a double. He’s hitting .379 since being moved to the leadoff spot on April 27.
“It felt like we were passing the baton, just good at-bat after good at-bat, passing it off to the next guy, and that’s when we’re at our best,” Peña said.
The Astros pounded Twins starter Chris Paddack for nine runs (eight earned) and 12 hits in four innings, taking an 8-0 lead after three innings. Altuve had a two-run double in the third and popped a Statcast-projected 342-foot homer -- his 10th of the season -- into the first row of the Crawford Boxes in the fourth to make it 9-1. He was eager to discuss the kids.
“I think Cam Smith has been playing good overall and working really hard and when you do that you start hitting like he’s hitting right now,” Altuve said. “And Melton, big [triple] and a single, so he’s very talented. The few games he’s been here, we’ve seen a lot from him. He can run, he can obviously play defense. I like the way he plays and I think he helped us win the game today, which is big for us.”
One day after starting third baseman Isaac Paredes suffered a left hamstring strain running to first base (he’s day to day), Melton suffered a right ankle sprain tracking a home run off the bat of Minnesota’s Willi Castro in the fourth. The Astros’ No. 2 overall prospect who was called up June 1, Melton could be headed to the injured list.
“I’ve been putting in a lot of good work and I felt like today it was starting to translate a little bit,” he said. “I felt very good in the box. I was confident, seeing it well. I felt very good today. I think frustrating's a good word to put on [the injury]. Obviously, it’s something that’s out of my control at this point. Would love for this to not happen, but it’s part of the game unfortunately.”
Smith was the Astros’ No. 1 prospect entering the season, but he made the Opening Day roster after moving to right field in the spring and hasn’t looked back. He’s hitting .294 (25-for-85) with 11 runs scored, eight doubles and 11 RBIs in his last 25 games and has quickly learned to be an adept right fielder.
“I think this game is all about momentum and for me to have that opportunity to come up like that is huge,” Smith said. “Everybody swung it today. It was fun to watch.”
Gordon, a strike-thrower making his sixth Major League start, posted career highs in innings pitched and pitches (102), while allowing six hits and striking out five batters. His biggest out came when he got Correa to ground out to third base and strand the bases loaded in the third.
“Any time the offense goes out and scores -- I was looking at the scoreboard today and was it eight in the first three and nine in the first four? -- my job is very simple,” Gordon said. “You get out there and you get back in as quickly as possible and hopefully they keep going, and I felt like I did that for the most part. I felt really good to get through six.”