BASEBALL/Taiwanese Teng Kai-wei claims 4th win as Astros edge Guardians

Taipei, June 22 (CNA) Houston Astros right-hander Teng Kai-wei (鄧愷威), the only active Taiwanese pitcher in Major League Baseball (MLB), earned his fourth win of the season in his team's 2-1 victory over the Cleveland Guardians on Sunday.

Teng struck out four over six innings, allowing one run on four hits and one walk. His earned run average dropped to 4.03 as he snapped a three-game losing streak.

The 27-year-old Taiwanese worked out of trouble in the first inning after allowing two singles and throwing a wild pitch that put runners on second and third, before striking out Daniel Schneemann to end the threat.

The Guardians' only other runner in scoring position came in the fifth inning, when Petey Halpin hit a one-out triple to center field with the Astros leading 2-0. Halpin later scored Cleveland's lone run on a groundout by Travis Bazzana.

Astros catcher Christian Vázquez said Teng's control had improved compared with his previous two starts.

"That was the main key," Vázquez said. "The last two outings, he was out of the zone -- a lot of walks and a lot of hit-by-pitch."

Vázquez said it seemed that Teng was throwing a lot more strikes.

"They're swinging early, and that's very important. It was good," Vázquez was cited as saying on the MLB news site.

Offensively, the Astros scored two runs off Guardians starter Slade Cecconi, who took his sixth loss of the season after allowing two runs over six innings.

Houston opened the scoring in the first inning when Yordan Alvarez launched his 25th home run of the season to right-center field.

The homer gave Alvarez sole possession of the American League lead with 25 home runs, four behind MLB leader Kyle Schwarber.

Alvarez later scored the Astros' second run after drawing a leadoff walk in the fourth inning and advancing home on consecutive singles.

The win gave the Astros a 2-1 series victory over Cleveland and improved their record to 37-42.

Houston remained in fourth place in the American League West but moved within one game of the third-place Texas Rangers and three games of the Seattle Mariners, who are leading the division.