Cam Smith hit a tiebreaking homer off Jhoan Duran in the ninth inning to lift the visiting Houston Astros to a 2-1 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Thursday.
Smith homered in every game of the series, helping Houston win two of three against Philadelphia . Texas plays later Thursday. Zack Wheeler tossed seven strong frames for Philadelphia, allowing one run and five hits with nine strikeouts. The Phillies dropped four games behind the first-place Atlanta Braves in the National League East and now head to Atlanta for a three-game set this weekend. That was the only run scored in the early going, as Philadelphia did not even manage a hit against Javier until the fifth inning. Wheeler struck out the side in the sixth and got through the seventh before Philadelphia turned to Jose Alvarado, who survived a rocky eighth.
Cristian Javier gave up one run and three hits in six innings for the Astros, who moved 2 1/2 games up on the second- place Texas Rangers in the American League West. Houston took a 1-0 lead in the second inning when Christian Walker singled with one out and scored on a two-out double by Taylor Trammell. It was a bit of deja vu for the Phillies, who were no-hit by the Astros in Game 4 of the 2022 World Series, with Javier logging the first six frames in that contest.
