Perez hits 2 of Indians' 4 HRs in rout of Astros
Roberto Perez homered twice and drove in four runs as the host Cleveland Indians slugged their way to a 10-4 victory over the Houston Astros on Wednesday.
Carlos Santana and Jason Kipnis joined Perez in belting three-run homers and Francisco Lindor collected three hits and scored twice for the Indians, who have won 13 of their last 17 games.
Yuli Gurriel ripped a three-run double to extend his hitting streak to a career-best 18 contests and Carlos Correa launched a solo homer for the Astros, who saw their three-game winning streak come to a halt.
Houston made a splash prior to the game when it acquired former Cy Young Award recipient Zack Greinke from Arizona for fellow right-handers Corbin Martin and J.B. Bukauskas, first baseman Seth Beer and infielder Josh Rojas.
After Perez's three-run homer erased a one-run deficit in the second inning, Santana did the same in the fifth as he deposited an 0-1 changeup from Jose Urquidy (1-1) over the wall in right field to give Cleveland a 6-4 advantage. Santana's homer was his team-leading 23rd of the season, with 10 of those giving the Indians the lead.
Perez was not done as he led off the sixth inning with a blast to right-center field to extend his career-high total to 18 homers on the season. The 30-year-old Perez's power display accounted for his first regular-season multi-homer performance, although he did go deep twice in Cleveland's 6-0 romp over the Chicago Cubs in Game 1 of the 2016 World Series.
Kipnis capped the scoring later in the sixth inning after jumping on a first-pitch fastball from Collin McHugh for a three-run shot.
The Astros answered Perez's three-run blast in the second with a three-run inning of their own in the third. Jose Altuve and Alex Bregman each singled and Yordan Alvarez walked to load the bases before Gurriel slapped an 0-1 changeup from rookie Zach Plesac (6-3) down the third-base line to give Houston a 4-3 lead.
Plesac held the fort from there, exiting after allowing four runs on six hits in five innings to win his third straight outing and improve to 4-1 in six starts at Progressive Field.
--Field Level Media
