Garcia earns 5th straight victory as Astros down Jays to take rubber match
Jansen leaves with injury, Houston spoil Toronto's 1st homestand in Buffalo
Jose Altuve led off the game with a home run, rookie Luis Garcia earned his fifth straight win and the Houston Astros beat Toronto 6-3 Sunday, finishing the Blue Jays' first homestand of the season in Buffalo.
Chas McCormick also homered, Yuli Gurriel had three hits and Alex Bregman scored twice as Houston won for the sixth time in eight games.
The Blue Jays went 3-2 to open their residency at the home of their Triple-A affiliate.
Toronto was 10-11 while hosting home games at its spring training site in Dunedin, Florida, to begin the year.
Garcia (5-3). battling a cold which limited him to 79 pitches, allowed one run and three hits in six innings.
The left-hander struck out eight, raising his season total to 68 to tie for the lead among American League rookies with Detroit's Tarik Skubal.
"He didn't have his best stuff," Astros manager Dusty Baker said. "He made the pitches when he had to. He gave us all that we needed and all that we wanted."
Riding a five-game winning streak, Garcia appears to have met Baker's expectations over the first half of the season.
"You never know what a young man is going to do," Baker said. "In spring training, I said I'm always rooting for a surprise player, especially a surprise rookie. Once the young man feels that he belongs here and starts feeling comfortable, he can be himself and rise to the occasion if he has the ability, which we feel he does."
Gurriel, meanwhile, is more surprised by Garcia's success.
Jansen leaves game with injury
"What he's been doing this year has been surprising to see," Gurriel said through an interpreter. "Just how effective he's been, and you can see he's a guy with a lot of capabilities and is ready to do some really great things."
Ryan Pressly worked the ninth inning to earn his ninth save.
Altuve sent a drive just inside the left-field foul pole for his 19th career leadoff homer. McCormick opened the second with his fifth homer and Kyle Tucker had a two-run single in the third off Steven Matz (6-3).
Altuve also made back-to-back sharp plays to stop Toronto in the third. The All-Star second baseman fielded a grounder by Marcus Semien and threw out Danny Jansen at third — Jansen did not return to the game after straining his right hamstring on the play.
Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo said that Jansen was undergoing tests after the game, with more slated for Monday.
The next batter, Bo Bichette, hit a hard grounder to Altuve's left that he stopped with a dive, then got the out at first.
Matz allowed eight hits and four walks over 4 1/3 innings.
"He had to battle every inning," Montoyo said. "He gave up four [runs], but it could have been worse. He made big pitches to keep us in the game. It seems like four runs was a lot, the way [Garcia] was pitching."
Teoscar Hernandez had an RBI grounder and Randal Grichuk singled home a run for the Blue Jays.
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