Rookie J.P. France continued his stellar pitching as of late and Yordan Alvarez delivered a timely three-run home run as the host Houston Astros topped the Cleveland Guardians 7-3 on Monday
The Astros closed to within a half-game of the idle Texas Rangers atop the American League West by rallying from an early two-run deficit. France (7-3) was instrumental in the comeback, recording his fifth consecutive winning decision by holding firm after Cleveland scratched across a pair of runs in the top of the second inning
France surrendered three hits in the second, including a seeing-eye single by Gabriel Arias that set the table for Bo Naylor's run-scoring double and Myles Straw's sacrifice fly that lifted the Guardians to a 2-0 lead
But France left Naylor stranded at third by getting Steven Kwan to ground out, the first of eight consecutive batters he retired. France worked around a pair of one-out baserunners in the fifth, induced Josh Bell to ground into a double play in the sixth and received a hand defensively from Alvarez to cap the seventh when Alvarez erased Kwan at second as he tried to stretch a single into a double
France posted his ninth quality start in his last 10 outings, limiting the Guardians to two runs on seven hits and two walks with six strikeouts over seven innings. He has allowed three earned runs over his last three starts, spanning 21 innings
Veteran right-hander Noah Syndergaard made his first start for the Guardians since his acquisition from the Los Angeles Dodgers last week. He carried a shutout into the sixth inning despite failing to notch a strikeout and recording some loud outs, but his outing ended prematurely when he was struck in the lower right leg by a Jeremy Pena comebacker in the sixth
Syndergaard recovered to record the assist but departed after attempting a few warmup tosses. The Astros immediately pounced on his replacement, right-hander Eli Morgan (4-2), with Kyle Tucker producing an RBI single that scored Jose Altuve and Alex Bregman drawing a walk to set the table for Alvarez
Alvarez lofted a 1-1 changeup into the right field seats for his 19th home run, providing the Astros a 4-2 lead. Altuve, who finished 1-for-2 with three walks and two steals, scored on a wild pitch in the seventh. Jake Meyers and Tucker, who went 2-for-4, added eighth-inning RBIs
--Field Level Medi