Pena Goes Deep Twice, Houston Buries Cleveland 9-3

Jeremy Pena went 3-for-5 with 2 home runs, 3 RBI, and 2 runs scored as Houston handled Cleveland 9-3. Tatsuya Imai made the case for himself with 11 strikeouts over 6 innings, walking nobody.

The story of the night was a two-man wrecking crew. Pena's 2-homer, 3-RBI performance would have been enough to carry most lineups, but Jose Altuve piled on with a home run of his own, going 2-for-4 with 4 RBI and a run scored. That's 7 of Houston's 9 runs accounted for by just two hitters — and it wasn't particularly close at any point that matters.

Imai was the engine that kept Cleveland from making it interesting. Six innings, six hits, three earned runs, zero walks, and 11 strikeouts is a dominant line by any measure. He didn't give the Guardians anything free, and that zero in the walk column looks like the signature of a pitcher who was fully in command of his stuff. When he exited, Steven Okert came on and threw two perfect innings — no hits, no runs, three strikeouts — effectively slamming the door before Cleveland could even knock. Mike Burrows finished it off with a clean inning of his own. Houston's bullpen allowed one hit across three innings combined. Cleveland's offense had no answer for any of it.

For Cleveland, Rhys Hoskins provided the lone bright spot, going 1-for-4 with a home run and 2 RBI. Brayan Rocchio went 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run, and Travis Bazzana reached base twice in four at-bats. But Tanner Bibee's night ended at 5.1 innings — 4 hits, 3 earned runs, 2 walks, 7 strikeouts — and the Guardians never generated enough offense to threaten. The 7 strikeouts from Bibee look respectable on paper, but the 3 earned runs in just over five innings tell the real story: Houston's lineup found its spots. The final score, 9-3, flatters nobody in Cleveland's dugout. This was a comfortable Houston win from the middle innings on.