The curveball arced for a called third strike. Matt McLain craned his neck in disbelief. Ronel Blanco came off the mound with a hop-step and a pump of his fist, punctuation on another clean inning. It distilled Sunday afternoon at Daikin Park into a deft sequence.

Ronel Blanco struck out a career-high 11 in eight innings and Shawn Dubin completed the two-hitter to lead the Houston Astros to a 6-0 win over the Cincinnati Reds

Twelve of Houston's 14 active position players hit right-handed, and other teams have noticed the team's lack of offensive balance.

The Houston Astros finish a three-game series with the Cincinnati Reds on Sunday at Daikin Park. Ronel Blanco (2-3, 4.96 ERA) pitches for Houston against Chase Petty (0-1, 34.71) for Cincinnati. The teams split the first two games.

Elly De La Cruz hit a three-run homer in Cincinnati’s 10-run first inning as the Reds pounced on Lance McCullers early and held on for a 13-9 win over the Houston Astros.

The Cincinnati Reds had swept their last three series against the Houston Astros, in 2019, 2023 and 2024 before losing to them Friday.

Ronel Blanco twirled eight impressive innings and Yainer Diaz clubbed a three-run home run as the Houston Astros claimed the rubber match of their three-game interleague series against the visiting Cincinnati Reds with a 6-0 victory on Sunday.

Hunter Brown pitched two-hit ball into the sixth inning, and the Houston Astros beat the slumping Cincinnati Reds 3-0.

As the Houston Astros' three-game weekend series with the Cincinnati Reds began Friday, the probable pitcher for the road squad was Graham Ashcraft. When Sunday