Houston Astros third baseman Alex Bregman, left, tags out Tampa Bay Rays’ Yandy Diaz, right, on a fielder’s choice ground ball by Wander Franco during the sixth inning of a baseball game, Sunday in Houston.

HOUSTON (AP) — Brandon Lowe hit a two-run homer and drove in three, Josh Lowe capped a four-run first with a three-run double and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Houston Astros 8-2 on Sunday.

Brandon Lowe, who finished with three hits, hit his homer to right in the sixth to increase Tampa Bay’s lead to 8-2. He also had an RBI single in the fourth.

The Rays got to Houston starter Brandon Bielak (5-6) for four runs in the first, with Yandy Díaz scoring on a fielding error by José Abreu before Josh Lowe hit his three-run double.

Díaz had an RBI single in the fourth as the Rays built a 6-0 lead.

Zack Littell (1-2), making his fourth start of the season, yielded two runs on eight hits with four strikeouts in a career-high five innings.

Houston got their runs in the fifth on an RBI double by Kyle Tucker and an RBI groundout by Alex Bregman. Jose Altuve had three hits.

Bielak allowed six runs — three earned — on eight hits with four strikeouts in five innings. Bielak has allowed six runs in consecutive starts.

Peña has career-high 4 RBIs as Astros score season high in 17-4 rout of Rays

SATURDAY — Astros 17, Rays 4: Jeremy Peña had a career-high four RBIs, Yainer Díaz and José Abreu added three apiece and the Houston Astros had their highest-scoring game of the season in a 17-4 rout of the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday night.

Díaz put Houston up early with a two-run shot in the second. Peña, who had two hits, made it 5-0 with a bases-loaded double in the fourth.

Chas McCormick hit a two-run triple in Houston’s three-run fifth and Abreu made it 11-0 with his 10th homer of the season in the sixth to help the Astros bounce back after a 4-3 loss in the series opener Friday.

Hunter Brown (7-7) allowed four hits and two runs in 6-plus innings for his first win since June 13.

Isaac Paredes hit a two-run homer in the seventh and a solo shot in the ninth and Wander Franco added a home run in the eighth for the Rays, but it wasn’t nearly enough as they fell to 6-16 this month.

With the game out of hand, manager Kevin Cash brought in catcher René Pinto for his first career pitching appearance to start the seventh inning.

With Pinto throwing as slow as 50 mph, the Astros easily padded the lead. Jose Altuve hit a two-run homer with one out and Alex Bregman added a two-run shot with two outs before Yordan Alvarez homered on the next at-bat to make it 16-2.

Houston’s 17 runs bested the 14 it scored in a win over St. Louis on June 29.

Tampa Bay rookie starter Taj Bradley (5-7) allowed three hits and five runs in 3 1/3 innings for his fourth straight loss.

Franco singled with one out in the first. He stole second base and moved to third on the play on a throwing error by Díaz.

But the Rays came away empty when Bregman caught a fly ball hit by Brandon Lowe in foul territory and threw home in time for Díaz to tag Franco for the double play.

Abreu opened Houston’s second with a single before Díaz homered to center field to give the Astros a 2-0 lead.

Bradley walked Jake Meyers walked with one out in the fourth to load the bases and end his night. Kevin Kelly took over and struck out Altuve before Peña doubled off the wall in left field to clear the bases and push the lead to 5-0.

Alvarez and Abreu hit consecutive singles with one out in the fifth before the triple by McCormick made it 7-0. A double by Díaz sent McCormick home and left the Astros up 8-0.