Ryan gets first career win, Dodgers avoid sweep

River Ryan threw almost six innings of shutout baseball in his second career start as the Dodgers defeated the Astros 6-2 on Sunday afternoon at Minute Maid Park.

The first four innings passed without any scoring until James Outman hit a solo home run, his fourth of the year. The Dodgers continued to showcase their power at the plate.

Gavin Lux has been performing well recently, hitting in the third spot. He hit a two-run home run to right-center for his sixth of the season. Lux, over his last nine games, is hitting .520 with three home runs, eight RBI and seven extra-base hits.

Ryan pitched 5 2/3 innings before Dodgers manager Dave Roberts decided to pull him after 91 pitches. While Ryan was on the mound, no runs were allowed, but he did walkoff with Jose Altuve on second base after giving up a leadoff double.

Yainer Diaz wasted no time when Alex Vesia threw the first pitch. He crushed a two-run home run to deep left-center field, marking his ninth home run of the season. 

Roberts wasted no time either, pulling the pitcher who had not allowed a run. He went to the bullpen, which has had the worst 6.60 ERA in MLB in the month of July.

The Dodgers added some insurance runs in the eighth. Teoscar Hernandez hit his 22nd home run of the season to left field and Cavan Biggio followed with an RBI single, scoring Lux to make it 5-2.

Astros right-hander Spencer Arrighetti pitched six innings allowing four hits, three runs and striking out eight batters. 

The Dodgers offense set a franchise record for the most strikeouts (42) in a series. They were shut out in the first game.

Arrighetti, 24, made his 19th start of the season, bringing his record to 4-9 and his ERA to 5.58. The Astros struggled offensively, with Alex Bregman going 0-for-3 after hitting a walk-off home run on Saturday night, and Yordan Alvarez finishing 0-for-4.

The Astros managed four hits in the game, with two of them coming from Altuve in Sunday's loss to the Dodgers.

Shohei Ohtani stole his 27th base of the season, a career high, despite going 0 for 4 with a walk and a run scored.

Brent Honeywell came in during the ninth inning to save the game for the Dodgers and he continued to be lights out. Since joining the Dodgers, he has pitched 9.2 innings, allowed four hits, struck out seven, issued no walks and allowed no runs.

The Dodgers will have a day off on Monday and will return to action on Tuesday night in San Diego to play a two-game series.

Dodgers right-hander Tyler Glasnow (8-6, 3.47 ERA) will be making his second start since his back injury. The Padres will have right-hander Matt Waldron (6-9, 3.64 ERA) as they trail the first-place Dodgers by 6.5 games.