Kyle Gibson
By JORDAN GODWIN
Associated Press
HOUSTON (AP) — Austin Hays hit two homers and had four RBIs for the Baltimore Orioles in a 9-5 victory over slumping Houston on Tuesday night, cutting the Astros’ AL West lead to a half-game over Texas.
Orioles starter Kyle Gibson went 4 2/3 innings, allowing three runs and five hits, while striking out five and walking two. DL Hall (3-0) worked 2/3 of an inning to earn the win, and Cionel Perez earned his second save.
“We’re able to turn things around when we need to,” Gibson, the 35-year old right-hander from Greenfield, said. “This was just a full team win against a really good team who has proven that they’re one of the better teams in the AL. To come in here and do that was pretty special.”
Hays hit a three-run shot off Astros starter Hunter Brown (11-12) into the left-field Crawford Boxes to put Baltimore up 5-2 in the third inning. He followed with a solo shot to deep left-center field in the seventh, putting Baltimore up 8-5.
Houston entered Tuesday with a 1 1/2 game lead in the AL West over Texas and Seattle with 11 games remaining, but that lead was trimmed to one-half a game by the Astros’ loss and the Rangers’ 6-4 win against Boston. Houston has lost four of its last five games and six of its last eight.
The Orioles have won four straight and have a 2 1/2 game lead over Tampa Bay for the AL’s best record.
“What an amazing game by Hays,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said. “We didn’t play our best baseball. We don’t usually beat ourselves, but our offense picked us up, and we did some good things.”
Gibson’s next start is scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 24 at Cleveland. Gavin Williams is the scheduled starter for the Guardians. Game time is 1:40 p.m.
