McHugh, Astros top A's to avoid sweep

Houston, TX (SportsNetwork.com) - Jed Lowrie hit a two-run homer and finished with three RBI as the Houston Astros avoided a three-game series sweep by defeating the Oakland Athletics 6-1 on Wednesday.

Luis Valbuena and Evan Gattis also homered and Jose Altuve finished with two hits, an RBI, a steal and a run scored for the Astros, who had starter Collin McHugh (2-0) surrender just one run on six hits with no walks and 11 strikeouts over 5 2/3 solid frames.

"I had a pretty good breaking ball tonight which helped," said McHugh. "It was good."

Marcus Semien drove in the lone run and starter Drew Pomeranz (1-1) was tagged with the loss after giving up four runs on six hits in five-plus frames for Oakland, which outscored Houston 12-1 over the first two games.

"He's tough," Oakland catcher Stephen Vogt said of McHugh. "He really doesn't throw anything straight."

Lowrie opened the scoring for the Astros in the first with a towering two-run blast to left, scoring Altuve, who hit a leadoff double and stole third.

Oakland responded in the second. Billy Butler, Ike Davis and Eric Sogard all singled to load the bases with two outs. Semien grounded to short and beat out Lowrie's throw to first for an RBI single and a 2-1 score.

Lowrie struck again in his next at-bat, as he drove a liner to right for an RBI double to plate George Springer, who reached with a two-out single.

With one out in the fifth, Jake Marisnick tripled on a liner to right and came home on Altuve's grounder up the middle for a 4-1 Houston lead.

Valbuena stroked a solo shot to left field during the seventh and Gattis followed with one of his own an inning later to account for the final score.

Game Notes

Every player wore 42 on the back of their jersey in honor of Jackie Robinson Day ... Altuve extended his hitting streak to six games ... McHugh extended his winning streak to nine games, dating back to Aug. 12, 2014 ... The Astros will host the Angels for a three-game set starting Friday, while the Athletics will travel to Kansas City Friday for the first of three games.