Carter’s homers help Astros cruise past Twins

HOUSTON – Chris Carter belted two home runs to spark a power surge and pace the Houston Astros to a 10-4 win over the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday night at Minute Maid Park.
The Astros (50-70) bashed three home runs in support of right-hander Collin McHugh, who limited the Twins (53-65) to one run on four hits with three strikeouts over six innings.
Astros center fielder Jake Marisnick hit his first homer of the season, and second baseman Jose Altuve went 3-for-5 for his 51st multi-hit game.
Houston clustered its offense at the top and bottom of its order, with the top three hitters in the lineup – right fielder Robbie Grossman, Altuve and Carter – combining to score five runs while the eighth- and ninth-place hitters, Marisnick and shortstop Marwin Gonzalez, finished a combined 4-for-8 with two RBIs and four runs.
Twins right fielder Oswaldo Arcia homered in his first at-bat and in his last, recording his first multi-home run game of the season.
The most decisive swing in momentum followed a non-decision by Twins manager Ron Gardenhire, who opted to allow right-hander Yohan Pino to remain in the game after Pino surrendered three successive one-out singles in the fifth with the Astros having already scored in that frame.
Pino threw one more pitch following a mound visit, and the result was the same as the previous time he faced Carter, when the designated hitter’s two-run home run capped the Astros’ three-run third inning.
Carter bashed the last Pino offering of the game into the left field seats, extending the Astros’ lead to 7-1 and sending the Twins to their bullpen. The multi-homer game was the sixth on the season for Carter, the most by a Houston player since Lance Berkman also had six in 2006.
Pino (1-5) gave up seven runs on seven hits in 4Z\c innings.
Before the Astros turned on the power, the Twins led briefly after Arcia cracked a solo homer, his ninth, off Astros right-hander Collin McHugh with two outs in the second inning.
McHugh settled into a groove almost immediately, retiring nine consecutive batters while the Astros rallied on his behalf in the third, starting with Marisnick’s game-tying, leadoff homer to left.
McHugh (5-9) limited the Twins to one run on four hits in six innings.
MIN ab r h bi HOU ab r h bi
Santana cf 4 0 1 0 Grossmn rf 5 1 2 1
Dozier 2b 3 0 0 0 Altuve 2b 5 2 3 2
Nunez 2b 1 0 0 0 Carter dh 4 2 2 5
Mauer 1b 4 0 1 0 Castro c 4 0 0 0
Vargas dh 4 1 1 1 Krauss lf 3 0 1 0
Plouffe 3b 4 1 1 0 Snglton 1b 3 1 0 0
Suzuki c 4 0 1 0 Domnguz 3b 3 0 0 0
Arcia rf 4 2 2 3 Mrsnck cf 4 2 2 1
Escobar ss 4 0 0 0 Gonzalz ss 4 2 2 1
Schafer lf 3 0 1 0
Totals 35 4 8 4 Totals 35 10 12 10
Minnesota 010 000 003 - 4
Houston 003 042 01x - 10
E-Da.Santana 1. LOB-Houston 4, Minnesota 4. 2B-Grossman (7), Marisnick (2), Da.Santana (15), K.Suzuki (23). HR-Arcia 2 (10), Carter 2 (28), Marisnick (1), K.Vargas (2). SB-Schafer (6).
IP H R ER BB SO
Minnesota
Pino L, 1-5 4 Z\c 7 7 7 1 7
Thielbar X\c 1 0 0 0 0
May 2 Z\c 3 3 2 2 2
Swarzak X\c 1 0 0 0 0
Houston
McHugh W, 5-9 6 4 1 1 0 3
Veras 1 1 0 0 0 1
Sipp 1 0 0 0 0 0
Foltynewicz 1 3 3 3 0 1
Inherited runners-scored-Swarzak 2-1.
Umpires-Home, Bill Welke; First, James Hoye; Second, Adrian Johnson; Third, Bob Davidson.
T-3:8. A-17,490 (43,836)