Astros 3 - 1 Rays
Final
  for this game

Springer, Astros down Rays

Jun 21, 2014 - 5:32 AM St. Petersburg, FL (SportsNetwork.com) - George Springer stroked a two-run homer and Jarred Cosart tossed eight scoreless innings to lead the Houston Astros to a 3-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays in the second contest of a four-game set.

Cosart (7-5) gave up six hits and one walk with two strikeouts for the Astros, who snapped a four-game skid.

Jonathan Villar also homered and Jose Altuve went 3-for-5 with a run scored in the win.

David Price (5-7) was the hard-luck loser after giving up two runs on six hits over eight innings, but matched his season high with 12 strikeouts. The left-hander also earned his 1,000th career strikeout during the second inning.

"He was great. He had great stuff all night long," said Rays manager Joe Maddon on Price. "Unfortunately, we are wasting a lot of good pitching from him."

Jose Molina and Brandon Guyer both had two hits for Tampa Bay, which has dropped three of its last four games.

Altuve got aboard with a one-out single in the third inning before Springer opened the scoring by crushing a first-pitch changeup from Price just inside the left-field foul pole for a 2-0 advantage.

"It ended up staying fair because I was a little out in front of it and didn't want to hook it," said Springer on his homer.

Both teams added a run in the ninth. Villar crushed a shot to center with two outs for the visitors.

In the bottom half, Evan Longoria reached on Villar's fielding error and James Loney singled to left off reliever Chad Qualls with no outs. Yunel Escobar's RBI single with two outs beat a diving Altuve into right field, but Qualls struck out Ryan Hanigan to end the game.

Price fanned Chris Carter for the first out in the second for his 1,000th strikeout of his career. James Shields, who is now with the Royals, is the only other player in franchise history to accomplish this feat.

Guyer's base hit with two outs in the bottom of the seventh ended a streak of 12 straight batters retired by Cosart. Villar then bare-handed Escobar's chopper in the grass near shortstop and threw to first in time for a great play to end the frame.

Game Notes

Price also set a franchise record with his seventh double-digit strikeout game of the season. He has struck out 10 or more batters in each of his last four starts ... Carter finished 0-for-4 and is in the midst of an 0-for-19 slump ... Cosart improved to 3-0 in three career starts against the Rays.






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