Domingo Santana belted his first career major league home run and the Houston Astros beat the Colorado Rockies 8-4 Thursday to sweep their four-game home-and-home series.
Santana's three-run homer as a pinch-hitter in the eighth inning padded Houston's lead. Preston Tucker homered earlier in the game, hitting a solo shot for the second game in a row.
The Astros beat the Rockies by at least three runs in all four games, including the first two in Houston. They scored eight runs in each of the last three games have won five in a row overall.
Collin McHugh (7-3) pitched six innings for the win, striking out eight while giving up three runs, four hits and five walks. He pitched against the Rockies for the first time since making his major league debut against them in August 2012 while pitching for the New York Mets.
Astros shortstop Carlos Correa doubled, walked and scored two runs in the win, extending his franchise record with 15 hits in his first 10 major league games.
Carlos Gonzalez homered for a third straight game, a three-run blast in the first inning that gave the Rockies an early lead. They didn't score again until Wilin Rosario's RBI single in the eighth, losing for the eighth time in their last nine games.
Colorado starter David Hale (2-2) had nine strikeouts, tying a career high set in his major league debut for the Braves in September 2013. But he gave up five runs, 10 hits and a walk in five innings to take the loss.
Houston tied the score with a two-run third inning capped by Chris Carter's two-out RBI single, then took a 5-3 lead with two runs in the fifth.
Correa scored after drawing a one-out walk, stealing second base and coming home on Preston Tucker's double to the right-field wall. Carter doubled to the left-field wall on the next pitch for the two-run lead.
Santana homered in his 23rd major league plate appearance, driving Scott Oberg's pitch the other way to right-center field after Jason Castro led off with a double and Marwin Gonzalez drew a one-out walk.
Earlier, Tucker homered to right-center field in the first inning after Correa grounded into a double play to erase a runner at first base.
But Carlos Gonzalez gave the Rockies a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the inning with his 10th homer of the season, a line drive to right that came after Charlie Blackmon led off with a double and DJ LeMahieu walked.
[SportsNetwork.com]
