ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Luis Garcia scattered three hits over six innings and the Houston Astros ended the Tampa Bay Rays‘ 14-game season-opening home winning streak, 5-0 on Tuesday night.
Only three teams had a longer run than the Rays, who are 20-4 overall.
The 1880 Chicago White Stockings, who became the Cubs, hold the MLB record for the longest season-opening home streak with 21. The 1886 Detroit Wolverines had an 18-game stretch, while the 1884 St. Louis Maroons of the Union Association won 16 in a row, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
The announced crowd for the game between the MLB-best Rays and the defending World Series champion Astros at Tropicana Field was just 9,916.
Garcia (2-2) struck out seven, walked two and allowed just one runner to reach scoring position. The right-hander was coming off a start last Wednesday in which he gave up two hits over seven shutout innings in an 8-1 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays.
Tampa Bay entered outscoring its opponents 157-64. The Rays were held homerless for the second consecutive game after going deep 48 times during an MLB-record 22 straight with one games to begin a season.
It was the first time the Rays have been shut out this season.
Phil Maton, Rafael Montero and Ryan Pressly combined to finish a five-hitter.
Astros second baseman Mauricio Dubón doubled in the fifth to extend his hitting streak to 19 games and scored the game’s first run to start a five-run inning off Drew Rasmussen (3-2) when Jeremy Peña doubled on the next pitch.
Kyle Tucker had an RBI single, and José Abreu and Corey Julks had run-scoring doubles before Jake Meyers drove in a run with a single that ended Rasmussen’s night.
Rasmussen allowed five runs and nine hits, and had his ERA climb from 2.01 to 3.33.