Altuve homers off Eovaldi in first 2 at

HOUSTON (AP) — Jose Altuve homered off Nathan Eovaldi in his first two at-bats and Cristian Javier pitched seven strong innings to lead the Houston Astros to an 8-5 win over the Texas Rangers on Sunday.

After dropping the series opener 12-8, the Astros have won back-to-back games following a 4-11 start that left them seven games under .500 for the first time since 2016. They improved to 4-3 against AL West rival Texas this season.

Javier (2-0) allowed five hits and two runs with five strikeouts to give Houston a second straight solid pitching performance after dismal outings by its starters in the previous three games.

Marcus Semien hit a three-run homer off Seth Martinez with two outs in the ninth to cut the lead to 8-5. Josh Hader struck out Corey Seager to end it.

It was the 11th multi-homer game for Altuve, and his seven career home runs off Eovaldi are his most against any pitcher.