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Carter powers Astros in sweep of Royals

May 29, 2014 - 1:20 AM Kansas City, MO (SportsNetwork.com) - Chris Carter drove in four runs with two homers as the Houston Astros completed a three-game sweep of the Kansas City Royals with a 9-3 victory on Wednesday.

George Springer, who also homered, and Dexter Fowler both had two RBI and Carlos Corporan went 3-for-4 for the Astros, who won their fifth consecutive game and swept the Royals for the first time since July 6-8, 2001.

Jarred Cosart (4-4) earned the win after surrendering two runs -- one earned -- on four hits with a strikeout across five innings.

"I think we've shown everybody that we are playing a lot better baseball," said Cosart. "We are just competing with anybody, regardless of who we are playing and it's fun."

Brett Hayes went 2-for-4 with a home run while Omar Infante and Alcides Escobar both drove in a run for Kansas City, which has lost four straight and five of its last six.

"Right now we are not doing our job at the plate, but we will get better," said Royals outfielder Jarrod Dyson.

Danny Duffy (2-5) was tagged with the loss after giving up seven hits, six runs -- five earned -- and five walks in four-plus frames.

Houston started the scoring in the first. Jose Altuve reached on Eric Hosmer's catching error at first to lead off the game. Springer crushed a home run to center field to make it a 2-0 game.

Corporan singled before Jonathan Villar and Springer both walked to load the bases in the second. Fowler plated Corporan and Villar with a two-out single for a 4-0 cushion.

With two outs gone in the third, Robbie Grossman got aboard on a walk and Corporan scored him with a one-hopper off the wall in left.

The Royals got aboard in the fourth. Hosmer doubled to center and came home on Escobar's double to left.

Carter smoked a fastball to left to lead off the fifth and give the Astros a 6-1 advantage.

With men on the corners in the home half, Omar Infante's sacrifice fly to left brought home Dyson.

Springer got hit by a pitch to open the sixth. Two batters later, Matt Dominguez singled to center before Carter brought them home with his second blast of the game.

Hayes stroked his first home run of the season with one out in the seventh to account for the final score.

Game Notes

The Royals were outscored in the series by a 21-5 margin ... Altuve committed his first error in 89 games, ending a franchise-record streak ... Springer set the franchise rookie record for most home runs in a month with nine, surpassing Glen Davis, who had eight in September of 1985 ... Springer extended his hit streak to 10 games, while Altuve has hit in seven straight.