Houston Astros Defeat Los Angeles Dodgers 2 to 1 with J.R. Towles Double

Houston’s J.R. Towles ended his 0-for-32 slump today with a third-inning double and then ended his afternoon in the middle of a pileup at second base. The catcher broke out of his struggles to the tune of a 3-for-4 afternoon from the plate, which included the game-winning RBI single in the bottom of the ninth that gave the Astros the 2 to 1 victory over the Dodgers.

Brett Wallace began the 9^th inning rally with a one-out double, and with two outs Towles drilled one to center scoring pinch-runner Brain Bogusevic from second as the throw to home plate was off-line. The Astros other burst of offense came from center fielder Michael Bourn who hit his first home run of the season and first career leadoff home run off the Dodgers Ted Lilly’s first pitch of the game, but Lilly settled in after that, giving up just five more hits and no more runs.

Astros starter Aneury Rodriguez threw a career-high six innings in his fifth Major League start, allowing four hits and one run and striking out five batters. The only run he allowed came on a solo homer by Matt Kemp in the sixth inning that tied the game at 1. Houston reliever Mark Melancon pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to pick up his 4^th win of the season.

With Wednesdays win Houston took two of three games from Los Angeles giving them consecutive series wins for the first time this season as they won two of three in Toronto last weekend.

Houston will have Thursday off, before returning to action Friday night for a three game weekend set from Minute Maid Park against the Arizona Diamondbacks.