HOUSTON — The first one was a half-swing, a lazy fly ball, one of those Crawford-box specials that sometimes give the Astros' home park a bandbox feel. Alex Bregman's 94-mph pop fly traveled only 357 feet, so it hardly seemed fair that Joe Ryan's 37-inning streak without allowing a home run should end on such a cheapie.
But Chas McCormick took care of that.
McCormick followed Bregman's bloop with a 417-foot blast later that same second inning, and Houston turned those two home runs into a 5-1 victory over the Twins on Tuesday at Minute Maid Park.
"A homer's a homer, so yeah, it's definitely frustrating," said Ryan, who had not allowed a home run since April 19 in Fenway Park. "That's why we play in different parks, I guess."
Astros righthander Brandon Bielak didn't allow a hit until Royce Lewis' leadoff double in the fifth inning, meanwhile, and Houston handed the Twins their sixth loss in nine games.
The loss was Ryan's second of the season, and probably his worst outing so far, too. The righthander pitched only four innings, but needed 88 pitches to get through them, in large part because the Astros fouled off 20 pitches.
"I don't think he really ever settled in. The foul balls that [spoiled] some pretty good pitches — none of these at-bats ended quickly and thus forced him to work really hard," Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. "It was kind of a grind."
In addition to Bregman's solo homer and McCormick's 106.6-mph exit velocity two-run rocket, Ryan allowed two third-inning runs on two singles, two walks and a sacrifice fly.
