Jose Altuve smacked a solo homer among his four hits and recorded his 50th stolen base of the season as the Houston Astros defeated the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, 8-3, in the opener of a quick two-game set.
Altuve, who had his second straight four-hit game, also scored a pair of runs and drove in two for the Astros, who prevailed in Tom Lawless' debut as interim manager and have won three straight overall.
Houston fired manager Bo Porter on Monday not long after a story in the Houston Chronicle reported that general manager Jeff Luhnow and Porter had been at odds, primarily over the manager's in-game decisions.
Porter was in just his second season with the Astros, who had already eclipsed last year's win total of 51 and will likely end a three-year run of 100-loss seasons.
Jason Castro was 2-for-4 with two RBI, Dexter Fowler posted two hits, two runs scored and an RBI and Robbie Grossman tallied three hits, an RBI and a run scored in the triumph.
Brad Peacock (4-8) allowed three runs -- two earned -- on four hits and two walks over 6 1/3 innings.
C.J. Wilson (10-9) surrendered five runs on eight hits and a walk over 3 1/3 frames for the Angels, who had a six-game winning streak snapped.
The Astros plated the game's first seven runs, including three in the opening frame.
Grossman doubled to start the first and Altuve singled before he swiped his 50th bag of the season. Fowler lined a base hit to center to score Grossman and Altuve crossed the plate on Chris Carter's single to left. Castro's sacrifice fly made it 3-0.
Houston then pushed across a run in the third and fourth innings prior to its two-run fifth.
Altuve launched his leadoff shot into the Crawford Boxes in left to start the third and Grossman added an RBI double in the fourth. Castro's RBI double and Jake Marisnick's sacrifice fly in the fifth gave Houston a 7-0 advantage.
The Angels got on the board with a run in the sixth and put up two more runs in the seventh.
Gordon Beckham and Kole Calhoun led off the sixth with singles and Beckham later scored when Dexter Fowler committed an error on an Albert Pujols fly ball.
Chris Iannetta's sacrifice fly and Beckham's RBI double in the seventh trimmed the gap to 7-3.
Altuve's RBI double in the eighth made it 8-3.
[SportsNetwork.com]
