Astros double up Mets

Houston, TX – Jed Lowrie and Chris Snyder both homered in support of J.A. Happ and the Astros downed the Mets, 6-3, on Tuesday.

Lowrie hit a two-run blast in the first inning and Snyder followed with a three-run shot in the second. J.D. Martinez added an RBI for Houston, which has won the first two of this three-game series.

"It's much better to win from in front than from behind," said Astros manager Brad Mills.

Happ (2-1) allowed three runs on six hits while striking out seven over 6 1/3 frames. Brett Myers tossed a 1-2-3 ninth for his sixth save of the season.

Scott Hairston, Andres Torres and Josh Thole had an RBI apiece for New York, while Jon Niese (2-1) lasted just three innings and was charged with five runs in the loss.

"I think Jon made a couple of mistakes and it came back to hurt him but he'll be ready his next start," said Mets manager Terry Collins.

The Mets, who had won five of six games entering this series, got to Happ in the fourth. Justin Turner led off with a double and stole third while Hairston drew a walk to place runners at the corners. Torres and Thole followed with consecutive two-out RBI singles to make it 5-2.

In the fifth, Turner walked with two down, advanced to second on David Wright's single and crossed the plate on Hairston's base hit to left.

New York would get no closer, though, as Ike Davis struck out to end the inning and Martinez worked a bases-loaded walk in the sixth to cap the scoring.

Game Notes

Lowrie walked three times...On Tuesday, Astros pitcher Kyle Weiland underwent arthroscopic surgery to treat an infection in his right shoulder. Weiland, who was put on the 15-day disabled list Friday, has gone 0-3 with a 6.62 earned run average in three starts thus far for Houston. The right-hander was traded from Boston to the Astros this past winter...Niese saw his streak of four straight quality starts come to an end.