Houston Astros at Cincinnati Reds

Through his first seven outings of the season, often it was one inning or one pitch that proved to be the undoing of Astros right-hander Mike Burrows. On Friday night, it could have been the fourth inning when the Reds loaded the bases with one out. Only this time Burrows worked out of trouble, setting the stage for his strongest start this season. Burrows pitched seven shutout innings and Yordan Alvarez hit one of four home runs as the Astros handed the Cincinnati Reds their eighth straight loss, 10-0. Burrows, who has two straight quality starts, allowed three hits with one walk and six strikeouts through a season-high seven innings on 98 pitches. “I needed one of those,” Burrows said. “It was just good to put one together. I knew after the fourth that I had leverage and it was going to be a good one. It was definitely a relief. Just locking in and making pitches.” Burrows worked around an Elly De La Cruz double in the first. And the Astros offense woke up against Reds left-hander Nick Lodolo, who was making his season debut after beginning the year on the IL with a blister on his left index finger. Brice Matthews’ first career triple was followed by Zach Dezenzo’s two-run homer on a 1-2 pitch to put the Astros ahead 2-0 in the second. “My first two ABs went really well, stuck to my approach,” said Dezenzo, who flied out to the warning track in his second at-bat. “Offensively, a lot of fun today. Guys were putting up good at-bats.” Dezenzo, a Canton, Ohio, native and Ohio State University product, had friends and family on hand at Great American Ball Park.