Springer hits 3-run HR, Horwitz adds solo HR as Blue Jays hold on to beat Astros 7-6

TORONTO (AP) — George Springer hit a three-run home run against his former team, Spencer Horwitz added a solo homer and the Toronto Blue Jays held on to beat the Houston Astros 7-6 on Tuesday night.

Yordan Alvarez homered and scored twice as Houston almost came back from a 7-0 deficit, but the Astros lost for just the second time in their last 12 games.

José Berríos (8-6) pitched five innings to win back-to-back starts for the first time since a three-start winning streak between April 8 and 20. The right-hander allowed five runs and five hits.

Chad Green pitched around Jemery Peña’s leadoff double in the ninth for his third save in three chances.

Houston's Jose Altuve had three hits but flied out to center to end it.

Blue Jays slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr. went 1 for 3 with a walk and scored twice in his return to the lineup after being scratched from Monday's loss. Guerrero was hit on the fingers by a 96 mph fastball from Yankees right-hander Gerrit Cole on Sunday.

Toronto’s Justin Turner opened the scoring with a two-out RBI single off Astros right-hander Spencer Arrighetti in the first inning, and the Blue Jays used two homers to add four more runs with a two-out rally in the third.

Horwitz homered off the facing of the second deck in right, and Guerrero followed with a double. Turner walked before Springer homered into Toronto’s left field bullpen.

Springer’s homer was his fourth in seven games.

Blue Jays rookie Addison Barger hit an RBI double in the fourth and Alejandro Kirk scored on a passed ball by Houston’s César Salazar.

Arrighetti (4-7) allowed seven runs, six earned, and six hits in four innings.

The Astros chased Berríos with a five-run fifth. Salazar and Altuve hit RBI singles and Alvarez drilled a three-run homer.

ROSTER MOVES

Houston optioned IF/OF Cooper Hummel to Triple-A Sugar Land and recalled INF Grae Kessinger.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Astros: RHP J.P. France had right shoulder surgery Monday and will miss the rest of the season, the team said.

Blue Jays: Toronto put INF Isiah Kiner-Falefa (sprained left knee) on the 10-day IL, retroactive to Monday, and recalled INF Leo Jimenez from Triple-A Buffalo. Manager John Schneider said Kiner-Falefa will need more than 10 days to recover and called him “week-to-week.”

UP NEXT

Astros RHP Ronel Blanco (8-3, 2.49 ERA), who no-hit the Blue Jays in April, is scheduled to start Wednesday night against Toronto LHP Yusei Kikuchi (4-8, 4.18).

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

Houston Astros pitcher Spencer Arrighetti (41) works against the Toronto Blue Jays during the first inning of a baseball game, Tuesday, July 2, 2024, in Toronto. (Jon Blacker/The Canadian Press via AP)

Houston Astros starting pitcher Spencer Arrighetti throws to a Toronto Blue Jays batter during the first inning of a baseball game, Tuesday, July 2, 2024, in Toronto. (Jon Blacker/The Canadian Press via AP)

Houston Astros' Jose Altuve (27) dives safely into first base as Toronto Blue Jays first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (27) looks during the first inning of a baseball game, Tuesday, July 2, 2024, in Toronto. (Jon Blacker/The Canadian Press via AP)

Houston Astros' Jose Altuve (27) runs back to first base after hitting a single against the Toronto Blue Jays during the first inning of a baseball game, Tuesday, July 2, 2024, in Toronto. (Jon Blacker/The Canadian Press via AP)

Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Jose Berrios (17) works against the Houston Astros during the first inning of a baseball game, Tuesday, July 2, 2024, in Toronto. (Jon Blacker/The Canadian Press via AP)

Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Jose Berrios (17) works against the Houston Astros during the first inning of a baseball game, Tuesday, July 2, 2024, in Toronto. (Jon Blacker/The Canadian Press via AP)

Toronto Blue Jays' Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (27) rounds third base to score on an RBI single by teammate Justin Turner (not shown) against the Houston Astros during the first inning of a baseball game, Tuesday, July 2, 2024, in Toronto. (Jon Blacker/The Canadian Press via AP)

ULAANBAATAR, Mongolia (AP) — Tsenguun Saruulsaikhan, a young and newly minted member of Mongolia's parliament, is unhappy with below-cost electricity rates that she says show her country has yet to fully shake off its socialist past.

Most of Mongolia’s power plants date from the Soviet era and outages are common in some areas. Heavy smog envelops the capital Ulaanbaata r in the winter because many people still burn coal to heat their homes.

“It’s stuck in how it was like 40, 50 years ago,” said Tsenguun, part of a rising generation of leaders who are puzzling out their country’s future after three decades of democracy. “And that’s the reason why we need to change it.”

Democracy in Mongolia is in a transition phase, said Tsenguun, who at 27 is the youngest member of a new parliament sworn in this week. “We are trying to figure out what democracy actually means,” she said in a recent interview.

'Mongolia became a democracy in the early 1990s after six decades of one-party communist rule. Many Mongolians welcomed the end of repression and resulting freedoms but have since soured on the parliament and established political parties. Lawmakers are widely seen as enriching themselves and their big business supporters from the nation's mineral wealth rather than using it to develop a country where poverty is widespread.

Voters delivered an election setback to the ruling Mongolian People's Party last week, leaving it still in charge but with a slim majority of 68 out of the 126 seats in parliament.

Tsenguun was one of 42 winning candidates from the main opposition Democratic Party, which made a major comeback after being reduced to a handful of seats in the 2016 and 2020 elections.

She articulates a vision for Mongolia that dovetails with small government Republicans in the United States. In her view, too many people think the government will take care of them, and the large budget just feeds corruption. Government should be as invisible as possible, she said, and give people the freedom and responsibility to build their own lives.

“I don’t think that (the) free market has developed yet because the people are not used to this mentality,” she said. “People are afraid of competition.”

The detention of a couple of journalists in the past several months has fueled worries that the government may be edging backward, eroding the freedoms that democracy brought.

Tsenguun said her age group, who only know the post-communist era, needs to push back. "I think we also need to fight for it, because our generation didn’t have to fight for freedom,” she said.

The ruling party, which also ran the country during the communist period, is well-entrenched and enjoys the support of many older voters.

Retired community leaders, one wearing service medals from the government, showed up before polls opened at 7 a.m. in an Ulaanbaatar neighborhood. Elders are pioneers, one said, coming first to encourage others to vote.

Younger voters historically have not voted in large numbers, but anecdotal reports suggest their turnout may have risen in Ulaanbaatar in last week's election. Nearly half the country's population of 3.4 million people live in the capital.

“It was really encouraging to see so many young people in such a long line to vote as early as possible,” said Oyungerel Tsedevdamba, a former Democratic Party lawmaker and Cabinet minister who founded her own party two years ago.

“When I met with them during the election campaign, I saw it in person,” said Oyungerel, whose Civic Unity Party didn’t win any seats. “I saw their desire to fight and desire to change, really strongly.”

The proportion of female representatives rose from 17% to 25% in the new parliament, but most of those came in 48 seats that are allocated to parties based on their share of the vote. Female candidates did not do well in the head-to-head competition to represent 13 multi-member districts.

As a young woman, Tsenguun sees requirements that political parties nominate female candidates as a two-edged sword. She has to fight against the assumption that she got her position only because of a quota.

“I have to prove I’m not too young or inexperienced, and then afterwards comes, oh, she’s a woman,” she said. 'We are equal people and ... we can equally be strong candidates. And that’s what I want to say to my fellow female candidates."

The People's Party has tried to reposition itself in response to the public discontent. It appointed Oyun-Erdene Luvsannamsrai, a relatively young prime minister with a master's degree from Harvard University, in 2021.

Oyun-Erdene, now 44, waited on a long line that stretched outside a polling station before casting his ballot. Afterward, he blamed malicious people for using political parties for their own interest. “Today a completely new 30 years in the history of Mongolia begins,” he promised a crush of media outside.

It's unclear, however, how much the government will change and whether democracy in Mongolia is really on the cusp of a new era.

Tsenguun may want to make a difference but she is a first-term lawmaker in the opposition.

Her father sent her to live with her mother in Austria when she was 9 years old to experience living abroad. Like many Mongolians, her mother had left in search of better economic opportunities.

Tsenguun admired Austria, but decided she was happier at home and return after three years. The experience showed her what Mongolia could accomplish, she said.

“For me, it was not an option to go abroad and live somewhere else,” she said. “So therefore I wanted to change my motherland. That’s the reason why I took this path.”

Tsenguun Saruulsaikhan, a young and newly minted member of Mongolia's parliament, waits to receive her Parliament membership card at a ceremony held at the Government Palace in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, Monday, July 1, 2024. Tsenguun was one of 42 winning candidates from the Democratic Party, the main opposition group, which made a major comeback after being reduced to a handful of seats in the 2016 and 2020 elections. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

FILE - Young Mongolians chat under umbrellas as it rains on Sukhbaatar Square in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia on Thursday, June 27, 2024. Younger voters historically have not voted in large numbers, but anecdotal reports suggest their turnout may have risen in Ulaanbaatar in last week's Parliament election. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File)

Tsenguun Saruulsaikhan, a young and newly minted member of Mongolia's parliament, holds up her Parliament membership card during a ceremony held at the Government Palace in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, Monday, July 1, 2024. Tsenguun was one of 42 winning candidates from the Democratic Party, the main opposition group, which made a major comeback after being reduced to a handful of seats in the 2016 and 2020 elections. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

FILE - Mongolian Prime Minister Oyun-Erdene Luvsannamsrai, second from right, dressed in Mongolian traditional garment call deel, reacts as a woman takes a selfie with her child as he waited in line outside a polling station to vote in Ulaanbataar, Mongolia, June 28, 2024. The ruling People's Party has tried to reposition itself in response to the public discontent. It appointed the relatively young prime minister, Oyun-Erdene Luvsannamsrai, now 44, with a master's degree from Harvard University in 2021. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File)

Tsenguun Saruulsaikhan, a young and newly minted member of Mongolia's parliament, shakes hands with colleagues before receiving her Parliament membership card at a ceremony held at the Government Palace in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, Monday, July 1, 2024. Tsenguun was one of 42 winning candidates from the Democratic Party, the main opposition group, which made a major comeback after being reduced to a handful of seats in the 2016 and 2020 elections. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

FILE - A Mongolian woman consults a fortuneteller divining fortunes with stones on a street across from Sukhbaatar Square in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia on Thursday, June 27, 2024. The proportion of female representatives rose from 17% to 25% in the new elected parliament, but most of those came in 48 seats that are allocated to parties based on their share of the vote. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File)

Tsenguun Saruulsaikhan, then a young candidate vying for a position in Mongolia's parliament, speaks at a party headquarters in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, Thursday, June 27, 2024. Tsenguun went on to become one of 42 winning candidates from the Democratic Party, the main opposition group, which made a major comeback after being reduced to a handful of seats in the 2016 and 2020 elections. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)