Bregman, Blanco fuel Astros’ victory against Marlins

Alex Bregman clubbed a two-run, seventh-inning homer in support of Ronel Blanco, who recorded a quality start while lifting the Houston Astros to a 4-3 victory against the visiting Miami Marlins on Tuesday.

The Astros capitalized on a throwing error by Marlins shortstop Xavier Edwards in the bottom of the seventh, a misplay that enabled Chas McCormick to reach with one out in a tie game.

After Jose Altuve lined out and McCormick stole second, Bregman golfed an inside changeup from Marlins reliever Huascar Brazoban (1-2) out to left field. His 11th home run put Houston up 4-2.

McCormick served as the linchpin from the bottom of the order. His two-out run-scoring single off Marlins left-hander Trevor Rogers knotted the score at 1-1 in the second, and McCormick swiped second base and scored on a Bregman single with two outs in the fifth.

Blanco (9-3) was exceptional save for a pair of solo home runs. He retired 17 consecutive batters during one stretch.

The Marlins had seized a 1-0 lead when Jazz Chisholm Jr. struck a leadoff homer in the first, his 11th long ball of the year, to right field. Bryan De La Cruz immediately followed with a single, but Miami did not manage another baserunner until De La Cruz worked a two-out walk in the sixth.

Blanco struck out six batters during that span and recorded a called third strike on Bell following the De La Cruz walk to cap the sixth. However, he surrendered his 2-1 lead when Jesus Sanchez opened the seventh with his 10th homer, a 344-foot shot into the Crawford Boxes in left.

Blanco ended his outing by inducing an inning-ending double play from Nick Gordon. The right-hander allowed two runs on four hits and one walk with seven strikeouts in seven innings.

The Marlins did not go quietly. Chisholm slapped a two-out single into center off Astros reliever Bryan Abreu in the eighth, swiped second base and scored when De La Cruz followed with a sharp single to left.

Miami mustered more traffic in the ninth against Astros closer Josh Hader, who notched his 16th save when he struck out pinch-hitter Emmanuel Rivera with the tying run on first base.