Astros 8, Nationals 2
Geoff Blum and Humberto Quintero homered in a seven-run fifth and Bud Norris pitched 6 2/3 strong frames to lead the Houston Astros to an 8-2 victory over the Washington Nationals on Monday.
Rookie Brian Bogusevic had his first multi-hit game and scored a pair of runs and Jeff Keppinger chipped in two hits for the Astros, who pulled to within four games of .500 at 73-77.
The Nationals led 2-1 when Houston exploded against Livan Hernandez (10-12) and the Nationals' defense in the fifth. Chris Johnson led off the frame with a double and scored when Hernandez made an error on Bogusevic’s grounder up the middle. Quintero made him pay for the mistake with his two-run blast and the mistakes continued when Willie Harris misplayed Norris’ fly to left field, allowing the pitcher to reach.
Hernandez struck out Jason Bourgeois before Keppinger sent a single into center field that Roger Bernadina misplayed into another run. Two batters later, Blum capped the frame with his three-run blast.
Norris (9-8) allowed two runs and six hits while striking out six and walking four to notch his third straight win.