HOUSTON – Carlos Correa, Yordan Alvarez and Jose Altuve fired home runs for the Houston Stars to continue their fantastic start to the season, winning Thursday 6-2 over the Oakland Athletics.
Houston’s victory delighted its fans, who attended Minute Maid Park for the first time since 2019.
The Stars have a 6-1 lead in the campaign, bringing the best start in the history of the franchise after seven commitments. Five of the wins have come at the expense of the Athletics, swept away in Oakland at the start of the season.
Houston beat Oakland 41-11 in combined form during the campaign.
And on the day, it had the support of 21,765 noisy fans. The last time Houston Park had admitted public was in the seventh game of the 2019 World Series, which the Stars lost to the Washington Nationals.
For now, capacity is limited to 50% of the enclosure, due to the pandemic. But the Stars surely felt relieved after the boos they received during the six-duel tour with which they began the campaign.
Rival audiences frequently chanted “cheaters,” taking the first chance to reprimand the Stars for the signal theft scandal revealed in January 2020.
Cristian Javier (1-0) allowed three hits spread over five blank innings, to take the win. The Dominican received 7 strikeouts.
The defeat was for Cole Irvin (0-2).
For Atlético, the Dominican Ramon Laureano 4-0. Venezuelan Elvis Andrus 4-1.
For the Stars, the Venezuelan Altuve 4-1 with a score and a tow. The Cubans Alvarez 4-2 with two scored and one push, Yuli Gurriel 4-0. Puerto Rican Carlos Corretja 3-2 with two scored and two produced.