LDN - Sports

Altuve, Correa power Astros past Twins

[August 10, 2016] MINNEAPOLIS -- Jose Altuve got a rare night off in Monday's series opener against the Minnesota Twins. The diminutive second baseman atoned for his absence with four hits on Tuesday, leading the Houston Astros to a 7-5 win at Target Field.

For Altuve, the American League's leading hitter, it was the seventh time this season he's had four hits in a game. He also scored twice and knocked in a run as Houston won for just second time in its last eight games.

"(I tried) to get back into my routine," Altuve said. "Obviously, it was a great game today. I feel like everybody contributed to the win. We needed this type of game."

Correa homered in the first inning and later added a two-run single in the decisive sixth, when the Astros turned a two-run deficit into a lead they wouldn't relinquish.

Mike Fiers (8-5) overcame a shaky outing to earn the win, allowing four runs on five hits and two walks in five innings of work. He struck out five.

Michael Feliz, Pat Neshek, Will Harris and Ken Giles pitched four innings in relief, with Giles working around a run in the ninth for his second save.

Twins starter Hector Santiago (10-6), making his home debut and second start with the club overall, allowed five runs, four of them earned, on seven hits and a walk in 5 1/3 innings pitched in dropping to 10-6, including an 0-2 mark with Minnesota.

After a bumpy first inning, Santiago retired 12 of the next 13 men he faced into the sixth, as Minnesota took a 4-2 lead on back-to-back homers by Robbie Grossman and Brian Dozier in the fifth.

But George Springer doubled to lead off the sixth before Santiago issued his only walk. Altuve singled to load the bases for Correa, who bashed a single off the wall in right field that was misplayed by Max Kepler, allowing him to reach second.

"(Hector) settled in pretty nice," said Twins manager Paul Molitor. "He did a nice job of keeping his pitch count down, which has been kind of a battle for him. They just kept coming."

Marwin Gonzalez grounded out to short, scoring Altuve for a 5-4 lead and ending Santiago's night.

"Good team win, we needed that out of everybody," said Astros manager A.J. Hinch. "It helps some other guys around (Altuve and Correa) take a little breath of fresh air and feel like they don't have to carry the workload when our best guys are doing that. They don't have to feel like they have to carry the workload."

Houston added single runs in the seventh and ninth innings on an RBI single by Altuve and a sacrifice fly by Springer.

The four-hit night continued a MVP-caliber season for Altuve, who is hitting .398 in 65 games since May 26 and .493 in 38 road games since May 1.

"You just try to throw it up there, make a good pitch and hopefully he hits it toward somebody," Santiago said of Altuve. "Every time he hits the ball, it's somewhere where nobody is not. He always just seems to find a hole.

"You literally can't do anything else. You get ahead in counts, put him in situations where the pressure is on him and he just seems to find the hole. He's one of the best hitters, obviously the best hitter right now, you just try to bear with it and minimize the damage."

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Astros shortstop Carlos Correa (1) hits a two run double in the sixth inning against the Minnesota Twins at Target Field. Mandatory Credit: Jesse Johnson-USA TODAY Sports

Kepler and Kurt Suzuki each had two hits for Minnesota. Jorge Polanco singled in four at-bats, extending his hitting streak to 11 games.

Suzuki led off the ninth with a double and scored on an RBI groundout. Joe Mauer's two-out walk brought Kepler to the plate as the tying run, but Giles fanned the rookie for the game's final out.

The Astros seized an early 2-0 lead in the first inning on Correa's two-run blast into the left-field bleachers. It was Correa's 16th homer of the season and Houston's first in eight games.

"We had to get offense going. We need to win games and get back in the winning column," Correa said. "That's my job, to be able to bat in the runs hat are on the base. Altuve is doing a great job of getting on base for me, I better be drive in runs for me to help the team."

Miguel Sano came back with a solo shot on the first pitch of the second for his 19th homer and fourth in his last five games.

After Suzuki walked to lead off the fifth inning, Grossman ripped a letter-high 1-0 fastball from Fiers deep over the right-field fence for his seventh homer. For Grossman, who went deep 11 times in parts of three seasons with the Astros, the seven home runs is a career high.

Dozier, the next batter, belted a two-strike changeup for his 23rd homer to give the Twins a 4-2 lead.

Minnesota has hit back-to-back home runs on 10 occasions this season, marking the third-highest total in club history and most since the 1986 team did it 11 times.

NOTES: Astros 2B Jose Altuve was back in the lineup. He did not play Monday, snapping a streak of 202 consecutive games, the longest streak in the majors. ... Astros CF Carlos Gomez was not in the starting lineup. Gomez committed an error in Monday's loss and another defensive misplay later in the same inning while also going 0-for-3 at the plate. ... Twins C Mitch Garver was promoted to Triple-A Rochester. To make room, the club released OF Darin Mastroianni. ... The Astros and Twins will continue their four-game series on Wednesday night at Target Field. Houston will send LHP Dallas Keuchel to the mound against Minnesota RHP Ervin Santana.

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