HOUSTON — The first one was a half-swing, a lazy fly ball, one of those Crawford-box specials that sometimes give the Astros' home park a bandbox feel. Alex Bregman's 94-mph pop fly traveled only 357 feet, so it hardly seemed fair that Joe Ryan's 37-inning streak without allowing a home run should end on such a cheapie.
But Chas McCormick took care of that.
McCormick followed Bregman's bloop with a 417-foot blast later that same second inning, and Houston turned those two home runs into a 5-1 victory over the Twins on Tuesday at Minute Maid Park.
"A homer's a homer, so yeah, it's definitely frustrating," said Ryan, who had not allowed a home run since April 19 in Fenway Park. "That's why we play in different parks, I guess."
Astros righthander Brandon Bielak didn't allow a hit until Royce Lewis' leadoff double in the fifth inning, meanwhile, and Houston handed the Twins their sixth loss in nine games.
The loss was Ryan's second of the season, and probably his worst outing so far, too. The righthander pitched only four innings, but needed 88 pitches to get through them, in large part because the Astros fouled off 20 pitches.
"I don't think he really ever settled in. The foul balls that [spoiled] some pretty good pitches — none of these at-bats ended quickly and thus forced him to work really hard," Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. "It was kind of a grind."
In addition to Bregman's solo homer and McCormick's 106.6-mph exit velocity two-run rocket, Ryan allowed two third-inning runs on two singles, two walks and a sacrifice fly.
Five runs allowed were the most Ryan has allowed in a game since last Aug. 31 against Boston, not coincidentally the last time he had given up two home runs in a game, too. Ryan, who had not allowed a home run in six straight starts, struck out six and walked three.
Ryan didn't even watch Bregman's home run, off an 80-mph sweeper which didn't appear to be hit hard enough to be trouble.
But "I watched him, and he knows the ballpark well, so his reaction kind of told me everything," Ryan said.
No complaints from the manager, either. "That's life in this league. We play in plenty of places too that have good-size outfields that will help our pitchers at times, and there are times when you have to deal with the Crawford boxes here, or Fenway Park, right field at Yankee Stadium," Baldelli said. "That's life and all of our guys know that."
And it really didn't matter much, not with the Twins' lineup reverting to the left-on-base form it has displayed all month. The Twins went 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position.
A Twin reached base with fewer than two outs in five different innings, and the Astros contributed five walks as well. But two double plays prevented the threats from becoming more serious. Only in the fifth inning, after Lewis broke up the no-hitter with a double down the left-field line, were the Twins able to get a clutch hit, in the form of a two-out single by Christian Vázquez.
The catcher, greeted warmly by the 34,604 in attendance as he received his World Series ring, turned on a sinker well inside from Bielak and lined it to left field.
