Astros cruise past Blue Jays after big seventh inning

The Astros scored four runs in the seventh inning Wednesday night to pull away from the Toronto Blue Jays and cruise to a 9-2 victory.

Yordan Alvarez hit his third home run in as many games. He tied the game with an RBI double in the third inning and homered to give Houston the lead in the sixth.

But it was the seventh inning when things really unraveled for the Blue Jays and turned the Astros' way. Chas McCormick reached on a fielding error by Toronto pitcher Zach Pop, before Jon Singleton doubled to set up Jose Altuve's go-ahead RBI single.

The Blue Jays brought in Jose Cuas, but intentionally walked Alvarez to load the bases. It was a calculated risk, given how well Alvarez had been hitting the ball. But Yainer Diaz made them pay on the first pitch he saw from Cuas.

It scored Altuve to put the Astros up 5-2. Cuas went on to hit Jake Meyers and Jeremy Peña on back-to-back pitches to score another run.

Alvarez, Diaz and Meyers each plated a run for Houston in the eighth inning to secure the Astros win. It pulled Houston within 2.5 games of the Seattle Mariners (47-40), who trailed the Baltimore Orioles late Wednesday.

Framber Valdez (6-5, 4.11 ERA) starts for Houston (44-42) and Chris Bassitt (7-6, 3.24 ERA) takes the mound for Toronto (39-47).