HOUSTON — The Toronto Blue Jays have beaten the Houston Astros in two of three games, with one more left on Thursday.
They have scored a grand total of six runs. Each and every one of them has been a solo home run.
Wednesday, they hit three of them — two by Josh Donaldson and the other by Jose Bautista — and Marco Estrada made them stand up in a 3-1 victory.
Tuesday, Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion accounted for Toronto’s two home runs in a 2-1 win. Monday, Russell Martin’s solo shot accounted for Toronto’s one run in a 2-1, 14-inning loss.
As scant as the support has been, for the third day in a row, the Jays (61-47) got a superior pitching performance to make just a few runs go a long way.
Estrada (7-4) gave up just four hits without issuing a walk and got bullpen help from Joe Biagini and Roberto Osuna to nail it down. The better news is that Estrada appears to have put the worst of his back ailments behind him.
“I think it’s a matter of time,” said Estrada. “Time is allowing it to heal, along with the work the trainers have been doing. It’s getting there. It’s the best I have felt in a while. You can tell by the (velocity). It was back up where it normally is.”
Estrada credited Martin, the catcher, for identifying that the change-up was his best pitch on this night and he kept calling it.
“I just try to follow Russ as much as possible,” said Estrada. “He has an ability to pick up on what is working for me on any given night. Tonight he liked my change-up and we just rode it. They’ve got a really good lineup over there, a lot of young stars. I’m just glad the change-up was working.”
Donaldson’s first homer of the game, an opposite-field shot to right, gave Toronto a 1-0 lead to start the fourth inning. Two innings after that, Bautista belted his 15th of the season and, a moment later, Donaldson followed suit with his 27th, once again going opposite field to make it 3-0.
Meanwhile, after giving up a leadoff double to George Springer on his first pitch of the game, Estrada retired 10 men in a row before allowing his second hit, a single to Carlos Correa with two out in the fourth. He then got five more consecutive outs before Marwin Gonzalez and Jose Altuve hit back-to-back doubles to cut Toronto’s lead to 3-1.
Estrada came into the game leading all of baseball with a .181 opponents batting average and that went down after he tossed seven innings, allowing just four hits. He did not walk a man and, unlike recent starts when he fidgeted and stretched between every pitch to relieve his aching back, he was clearly feeling better, working at his usual rapid pace and wasting no time between deliveries.
With Estrada out of the game, the Astros very nearly capitalized in the eighth inning. Biagini gave up a leadoff double to Jake Marisnick. Springer followed with a ground ball to shortstop Darwin Barney. When Marisnick broke too far off second, Barney tried to get him as he dove back in safely after Devon Travis dropped the ball. Gonzalez sacrificed both runners along, leaving runners at second and third with just one out. With the Jays about to walk Altuve, Houston’s best hitter and maybe the best hitter in baseball right now, Gibbons popped out of the dugout.
“My first thought, I told Russ ‘Let’s walk him.’ You know Altuve is going to put it in play,” said Gibbons afterward. “All of a sudden I had the thought that Correa gets one big hit after another. I said to myself I wasn’t going to put the go-ahead run on and decided to let Biagini try to work out of it.”
Altuve hit a short fly ball to Jose Bautista in right, not deep enough to score Springer. Biagini then ended the threat on a called third strike with Correa at the plate.
Osuna pitched a perfect ninth for his 23rd save.
kfidlin@postmedia.com