HOUSTON – Collin McHugh bounced back from the shortest start of his career by pitching seven scoreless innings and Colby Rasmus hit a two-run homer as the Houston Astros won their home opener over the Kansas City Royals, 8-2, on Monday night.
Carlos Correa had three hits and two RBIs for Houston, Jose Altuve had three hits and rookie Tyler White added a pair of hits for his fourth multi-hit game this year.
McHugh (1-1) allowed eight hits and struck out four to bounce back from his last start, in which he allowed six runs and walked two in 1/3 inning of a 16-6 loss to the Yankees.
Chris Young (0-2) allowed nine hits and six runs in 4 2/3 innings. The Astros jumped on him early and were up by 1 in the first after an RBI double by Correa when Rasmus launched a towering shot to the second deck in right field to make it 3-0.
Luis Valbuena had an RBI double, Jason Castro drove in a run with a triple and Altuve had a run-scoring single in the fourth to push the lead to 6-0.