Jose Altuve passes Jeff Bagwell on Houston's all-time hits list as Astros beat Rockies

Kyle Newman, The Denver Post on Jul 2, 2025

Published in Baseball

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DENVER — Jose Altuve had a couple Hall of Fame moments on Wednesday, while the Rockies lacked any game-changing ones of their own.

Houston’s star second baseman laid down a crafty bunt in the opening inning that helped the Astros take an early lead, and then he delivered a two-out, two-RBI single later in the game that passed Jeff Bagwell on the club’s all-time hits list and ended up being the difference in the game.

That led to a 5-3 defeat for Colorado at Coors Field. With that, the Rockies dropped to 19-67 — remaining on pace to eclipse the 2024 White Sox’s modern record of 121 losses — and are now 8-34 at home, the worst home record in the majors.

The Astros struck first in the opening inning. Jake Meyers roped a double, then Altuve laid down bunt single to the left side of the infield, recognizing that third baseman Ryan McMahon was playing extremely deep. That advanced Meyers to third, and then he scored on Cam Smith’s single.

Houston added on against Austin Gomber in the second via Shay Whitcomb’s no-doubt homer, 451-feet to left-center on a piped fastball. But Mikey Moniak got that run back in the bottom of the frame with his own long ball, a 420-foot two-run homer to center off Houston’s Hunter Brown. It was the one shining moment for Colorado’s offense all night.

Three quiet innings followed before Houston re-asserted control of the game with a three-run sixth off Colorado’s bullpen combo of Angel Chivilli and Jake Bird. Gomber finished with two earned runs over five innings, with eight hits, a walk and a strikeout.

The Astros notched a single and a walk off Chivilli, then manager Warren Schaeffer tabbed Jake Bird, the normally reliable right-hander who has been struggling lately with a 7.45 ERA in his last nine games.

Bird plunked the first batter his faced, Meyers, with a fastball. Then Altuve, hit a two-out single to center to score two. It was the second baseman’s 2,315th career hit, surpassing Bagwell (fellow Hall of Famer Craig Biggio holds the franchise’s top mark with 3,060) and giving Houston a 4-2 lead.

The Astros added on during the next at-bat, when Smith roped a liner back at Bird’s feet. It deflected off the pitcher and allowed Meyers to score to make it 5-2.

Houston almost plated another run in the seventh off Tyler Kinley, but the slow-running Cooper Hummel was hosed at the plate off an impressive outfield relay. Yanquiel Fernández, making his MLB debut in right field, threw the ball to second baseman Thairo Estrada, who delivered a perfect strike to catcher Hunter Goodman.

But while the defense bowed up and the bullpen locked down, the Colorado offense couldn’t get anything significant going down the stretch.

The Rockies only mustered one baserunner in two innings against the Astros’ bullpen combination of Steven Okert and Kaleb Ort, but they made things interesting in the ninth against southpaw Bennett Sousa. Brenton Doyle and Michael Toglia hit bloop singles to right, but Kyle Farmer grounded into a double play — started by Altuve — and Tyler Freeman struck out to end the game and limit the damage to one run.