Growing pains are normal in any aspect of life. It appears the growing pain phase is over for the young Astros, Alex Bregman and Yulieski Gurriel. The pair helped dispatch Rays rookie pitcher Blake Snell with five runs over the first four innings of Saturday games, leading to a 6-2 win.
Back-to-back-to-back doubles from Carlos Correa, Evan Gattis and Gurriel plated two runs for the Astros in the second inning.
Bregman would build on the Astros lead with his fifth major league home run of his career, a two-run blast that snuck just over the wall into Crawford Boxes.
Snell would exit the game in the fourth after Marwin Gonzalez rocketed a hit off his left ankle -- Gonzalez moved to second on an errant throw from catcher Bobby Wilson. Bregman would drive in his fifth run with a single up the middle.
Houston led 5-0 with Wilson made up for his error with a two-run shot off Dallas Keuchel in the fifth. Bregman flashed the leather to end the top of the fifth with a diving grab in foul territory to retire Evan Longoria.
Gurriel added an insurance run with a double to left field to score Bregman in the seventh.
Keuchel had plenty of traffic on the bases paths but led the Rays to two runs on nine hits over seven innings.