HOUSTON — Ronel Blanco had the second hitless outing of his brief major league career but was pulled after seven innings as the Houston Astros beat the Detroit Tigers 4-1 on Sunday.
Blanco (7-2), who threw the only no-hitter in the majors this season on April 1 against Toronto, was just as good this time in the 20th start and 37th appearance of his career. The 30-year-old right-hander threw 94 pitches with 65 strikes and tied a season best with eight strikeouts. He walked three.
Ryan Pressly replaced Blanco to start the eighth and gave up the Tigers’ first hit, a two-out single by Wenceel Perez.
Jose Altuve hit a three-run homer for Houston.
The Tigers couldn’t do much of anything against Blanco a day after they had a season-high 19 hits in a 13-5 trouncing of the Astros.
Blanco didn’t allow a baserunner until he walked Gio Urshela with two outs in the fifth.
He then walked Akil Baddoo and Carson Kelly to load the bases, but retired Zach McKinstry on a flyout.
Blanco made a good defensive play for the second out of the sixth when he grabbed a comebacker hit by Matt Vierling. He then sat down Riley Greene on a popup.
Urshela reached with two outs in the seventh on a throwing error by third baseman Alex Bregman. Blanco then retired Baddoo on a fly ball that center fielder Jake Meyers caught on the warning track to end the right-hander’s day.
After the hit by Pérez, Pressly sat down Vierling before Josh Hader took over for the ninth. Mark Canha singled with one out and scored on a double by pinch-hitter Andy Ibanez.
Urshela grounded out and Hader struck out pinch-hitter Jake Rogers to end it.
Detroit starter Kenta Maeda (2-3) permitted five hits and four runs in five innings.
Altuve hit a leadoff single before moving to second on a wild pitch with one out. The Astros took a 1-0 lead when he scored on a single by Yordan Alvarez.
Mauricio Dubon singled with one out in the second and Chas McCormick drew a two-out walk. Altuve made it 4-0 with his shot to center field.