Luis Valbuena homers twice for Houston Astros in 8-5 win over Colorado Rockies

It was a game of a lot of long fly balls -- some of which left the yard while some just barely, tantalizingly, painfully, did not.

Corey Dickerson got things started with with an almost home-run than went as a double after a review in the first inning. The Rockies did not score in the inning.

The Astros used a pair of singles in the bottom of the first from George Springer and Jose Altuve to plate the first run of the game.

The Rockies struck back in the top of the second with almost home runs from Michael McKenry and DJ LeMahieu but it wouldn't matter much as their triple and double respectively were cashed in on -- the final strike coming from Charlie Blackmon who singled in LeMahieu to put the Rockies up 3-1. Those were the good old days.

The 'Stros countered on a home run from Luis Valbuena, who would be heard from again.

After all that, the Rockies still clung to a one-run lead in the third inning on the road against a good team and then Chris Rusin fell apart with two outs.

The Astros scored five runs in the third inning, three of them on a home run from Valbuena who has the most surprising 16 home runs (in June) I can remember. This inning was likely the end of Rusin's current tenure in the Rockies rotation and quite likely the first event of the Jon Gray era.

Carlos Gonzalez made things close in the fifth with a two-run monster shot (according to the guys on KOA) into the second deck. He would hit one even farther in the seventh inning but what was originally ruled a home run was rescinded upon review and CarGo returned to the field to strike out. The Rockies would not score in the inning and the score remained 8-5.

The Rockies offense would not threaten again.

Source: FanGraphs