Dallas Keuchel’s dominant performance sinks Royals in 4-0 win

Astros sink defending A.L. Champs, again

Dallas Keuchel (10-3, 2.03 ERA) put together a dominant start while hosting the Kansas City Royals at Minute Maid Park Tuesday evening, hurling eight scoreless innings with seven hits allowed, zero walks and seven strikeouts to lead the Houston Astros to victory by the final score of 4-0.

Royals center fielder accounted for three of their eight hits as he recorded two doubles with Keuchel on the mound. Obviously, Kansas City failed to capitalize with runners in scoring position while Danny Duffy attempted to settle down this dangerous lineup – especially the first three batters who lead the charge.

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Houston’s leadoff man, George Springer, launched his 13th home run during the third inning – a two-run shot to left field which brought Marwin Gonzalez around to score with him, giving Keuchel the 2-0 advantage early on.

Duffy (2-4, 5.44 ERA) held on for as long as he could, but skipper Ned Yost pulled the plug on his outing after 6 2/3 frames. The 26-year-old southpaw was responsible for four earned runs, six hits, two walks and six strikeouts during last night’s shutout loss.

This team put themselves a four-game winning streak that began last Wednesday while visiting the Seattle Mariners but came to an end when Lance McCullers took the mound on Monday. They’re currently 6-4 in their last 10 games but still sit atop the A.L. Central with a five-game lead over the Minnesota Twins.

Shortly after designated hitter Evan Gattis reached third on his fourth triple of the season, he would come across to score on a wild pitch that was delivered by Duffy with Chris Carter in the batter’s box.

Carter was also given first on the play as the pitch that got away was the fourth ball of the at-bat.

We’ll move forward to the bottom half of the fifth inning where Springer recorded a five-pitch walk with one out and Jose Altuve due up behind him. Altuve scored Springer from first on an RBI double to left field – his 15th of the season as the Houston Astros extended their lead to four while Keuchel continued to deal.

The 25-year-old second baseman ended up at third base on the throw, setting up another scoring opportunity for rookie phenom, Carlos Correa with only one out.

Correa ended up grounding out to Duffy on the mound, keeping Altuve stranded at third. Gattis also failed to push him across as he would be called out on strikes for the final out of the frame.