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Carter powers Astros past Rangers

Jul 9, 2014 - 5:42 AM Arlington, TX (SportsNetwork.com) - Chris Carter homered twice to lead the Houston Astros to an 8-3 victory over the Texas Rangers in the second contest of a three-game set on Tuesday.

Jose Altuve, Jon Singleton, Matt Dominguez and Marwin Gonzalez each drove in a run and George Springer also homered for the Astros, who won their second straight game on the heels of a seven-game skid.

"We came in scuffling offensively," said Houston manager Bo Porter. "The way we swung our bats the past two days is encouraging."

Houston starter Brad Peacock (3-5) surrendered two runs on six hits with five strikeouts across 5 2/3 innings to earn the win.

Leonys Martin drove in two runs with a homer and triple for Texas, which has dropped nine of its last 10 games. Phil Irwin (0-1) lost his season debut after giving up three runs on six hits and two walks in four-plus innings.

The Astros loaded the bases in the first, but Texas catcher Chris Gimenez picked off Altuve, who was leaning too far down the line at third. After the runners moved to second and third on a wild pitch, back-to-back RBI singles from Singleton and Dominguez made it a 2-0 game.

Carter was hit by a pitch to reload the bases with one out, but Carlos Corporan grounded into a double play to end the frame.

Martin cut the deficit in half with a leadoff blast to right in the second, but Springer answered back with his 18th home run of the season to open the third and restore the Astros' two-run lead.

In the fourth, Adrian Beltre got aboard with a leadoff triple that Springer just missed in center field. Martin's sacrifice fly to center got the Rangers within one.

Carter crushed a 1-1 fastball into the left-field seats for a 4-2 lead in the sixth.

The two teams traded runs in the seventh. Altuve took a leadoff walk in the top of half of the frame, stole second, advanced to third on Gimenez's throwing error and scored after Springer reached on Rougned Odor's fielding error. He was thrown out at second by Martin's throw from center.

Jake Smolinski's RBI double off the base of the left-field wall in the home half was his first major-league hit and made it a 5-3 game.

"I'll never forget it. It felt great," he said. "I knew off the bat it was probably going to be over his head."

Houston added three runs in the eighth. Carter led off the frame with a blast to center. Corporan singled and Enrique Hernandez doubled before Gonzalez's grounder went off the foot of pitcher Aaron Poreda to score Corporan. Altuve's sac fly off reliever Roman Mendez accounted for the final margin.

Game Notes

Houston has won a series in Arlington for the first time since June 30-July 2, 2006 ... Carter had his sixth career multi-homer game and his third of this season ... The Astros have now won four straight against the Rangers ... Altuve tied Carlos Beltran for the franchise record with 28 straight successful stolen bases ... Prior to the game, Houston placed outfielder Alex Presley on the 15-day disabled list with a strained right oblique and recalled outfielder Robbie Grossman from Triple-A Oklahoma City ... Texas placed pitcher Nick Martinez on the 15-day DL and recalled Irwin from Triple-A Round Rock.