Astros ride Victor Caratini’s slam to victory over Rockies

Victor Caratini’s grand slam capped a five-run second inning, and the Houston Astros held on to beat the Colorado Rockies 6-5 in Denver on Tuesday night.
Christian Walker went 3-for-4 with an RBI single while Cam Smith, Mauricio Dubon and Caratini had two hits each for the Astros, who posted their seventh win in eight games.
Bennett Sousa (2-0), the second of five relievers, pitched one scoreless inning. Josh Hader allowed a run in the ninth but picked up his 24th save.
Hunter Goodman homered twice in his return to the lineup, Jordan Beck collected a career-high five hits and Ryan Ritter had two hits for the Rockies. Colorado took its ninth loss in 11 games.
Goodman, who missed four games because of left hamstring tightness, put Colorado ahead with a solo home run in the first. The Astros tied it in the second with Walker’s two-out RBI single.
Houston went ahead for good in the third.
Dubon singled, Isaac Paredes walked, and Dubon took third base on Chase Dollander’s errant pickoff attempt. Dubon scored on Jake Meyers’ groundout, Jose Altuve walked and Smith singled to load the bases.
Caratini followed with a line drive into the seats in right to give the Astros a 6-1 lead. It was his seventh home run of the season and third grand slam of his career.
Dollander (2-9) left after giving up another hit. He allowed six runs on seven hits in 2 2/3 innings, with two walks and one strikeout.
The Rockies chipped away at the deficit. They got a run in the bottom of the third when Goodman scored on Thairo Estrada’s sacrifice fly and added another in the fourth when Ritter scored from first on Tyler Freeman’s two-out double.
Colorado scored again in the fifth but ran itself out of a bigger inning. Beck led off with a double, went to third on a groundout and scored on Brenton Doyle’s infield single.
Kyle Farmer then hit a ball that Meyers trapped off the fence in center, but Doyle thought Meyers made a clean catch. Doyle retreated back toward first and was forced out at second. Michael Toglia then singled to chase Astros starter Colton Gordon, who allowed four runs on nine hits in 4 2/3 innings. Gordon fanned three and walked two.
Goodman’s homer with one out in the ninth, his team-leading 16th, made it a one-run game. Beck followed with a single, but Hader retired the next two batters.