[June 05, 2013]HOUSTON
(AP) -- The Houston Astros arrived home from a perfect road trip at 6 a.m. on Tuesday.
On Tuesday night they saw their six-game winning streak end thanks a combination of strong pitching and great defense by Baltimore and a pair of miscues by their defense.
Danny Valencia homered, Chris Tillman threw seven solid innings and the Orioles got a 4-1 win over the Astros.
Brandon Barnes had a solo homer in the sixth for the Astros, who entered the game with the longest winning streak in the majors.
The loss ends a surprising week for Houston where the team won a two-game series with Colorado before a four-game sweep of the Angels.
The Orioles scored two runs on Houston errors and Adam Jones robbed the Astros of at least two hits with dazzling plays in center field.
"I thought we had some pretty good at-bats," manager Bo Porter said. "It just seemed like when we were hitting the ball hard, Adam Jones was running up Tal's Hill and making great plays. He's one of the best center fielders in our league so you tip your cap to him. I thought we hit some balls hard, but we just didn't have that much success because they played good defense."
Houston starter Lucas Harrell (4-7) yielded five hits and two runs -- one earned
-- with a season-high six strikeouts in seven innings. Porter was impressed with Harrell's work after he had given up 10 runs combined in his last two starts.
"Lucas had some things that he needed to straighten out, and it was a learning experience for him," Porter said. "He's more composed, things don't snowball the way they did earlier in the season, and that's a credit to him for taking constructive criticism and making adjustments."
Tillman (5-3) allowed four hits and a run and tied a career-high with eight strikeouts in seven innings. He bounced back from his last start where he was tagged for a career-worst four home runs against the Nationals. Jim Johnson struck out two in a scoreless ninth for his 19th save.
Valencia led off the third inning with a home run to the first row of the seats in right field to give Baltimore a 1-0 lead. Manny Machado hit a one-out double before advancing to third on a wild pitch with two outs. Machado scored on an error by first baseman Chris Carter on a grounder by Jones that allowed him to reach and put the Orioles ahead 2-0.
Carter has spent time at first base and in the outfield this season.
"He's a pretty good first baseman in his own right," Porter said. "It's unfortunate that he made the error tonight, but it's not something that will be a concern moving forward of not wanting him to play first base."
Harrell sat down 13 of the next 14 of the next batters he faced after the error, with the only hit coming on a single with two outs in the fourth inning.
"I felt like I was locating on both sides of the plate tonight with my fastball," Harrell said. "(Jason) Castro called a great game, we stuck with his game plan, and we were good with it."
Wesley Wright took over for the eighth inning and was greeted with a single by Nate McLouth. He stole second base before swiping third with one out and scoring on that play on an error by Castro when he overthrew third base.
Tillman plunked Carlos Pena to start the second inning before retiring nine in a row, including striking out the side in the third. He walked Carter to start the fifth, but still faced the minimum in that inning when Matt Dominguez grounded into a double play with one out.
Barnes got Houston within one with his solo homer to the Crawford Boxes with one out in the sixth inning.
Jimmy Paredes hit a two-out single in the seventh inning and stole second base. Tillman ended the threat when he battled with Dominguez before striking him out on the 10th pitch of the at-bat.
Barnes, the center fielder, robbed Machado of a hit when he made a diving catch on a fly ball with one out in the fifth inning.
Barnes was more excited about his home run than his defense since he doesn't hit a lot of home runs, but he still rated the play pretty high.
"It's up there," he said. "I think I've had quite a few, but I just try to do a good job and make plays for my pitchers."
Jones also made a nifty catch in center field when he snagged a liner by Jose Altuve over his shoulder while in a full sprint to end the eighth inning.
NOTES: The series continues on Wednesday when Baltimore's Freddy Garcia opposes Dallas Keuchel. ... The Astros are wearing special patches during this series to honor the four firefighters who were killed battling a Houston motel and restaurant fire last week. The patches are black with "HFD" written in white block letters on them. More than a dozen other firefighters were hospitalized after Friday's blaze, the deadliest in the 118-year history of the department. ... Baltimore RF Nick Markakis will miss Wednesday and Thursday's games to attend the funeral of his grandmother. Orioles manager Buck Showalter said he won't go on the bereavement list because he will be back for Friday's game against Tampa Bay.
