Houston Astros manager A.J. Hinch might want to consider giving Jose Altuve more days off.

A night after he was out of the starting lineup for the first time all season Browns Baker Mayfield Jersey , the 2017 American League MVP homered twice, including the last of three straight by the Astros in the sixth inning, to lift Houston to a 5-1 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday night.

Altuve, who pinch-hit in the ninth inning on Tuesday night, said getting a little break gave him a chance to regroup.

”It felt good. It’s always good to sit down and think about how you feel,” he said. ”And I came back strong today.”

The game was tied in the bottom of the sixth when George Springer’s 15th homer this season made it 2-1. Two pitches later Alex Bregman sent an 87 mph slider from Rays’ starter Nathan Eovaldi (1-3) into the seats in left field for his 11th home run.

But the Astros weren’t done yet, as Altuve put one on the train tracks atop left field for the second time on Wednesday night to push the lead to 4-1. It was the first time the Astros had hit three home runs in a row since May 2, 2008 when Miguel Tejada, Lance Berkman and Carlos Lee did it against the Milwaukee Brewers.

Altuve got a little amped up after seeing the balls by Springer and Bregman leave the yard, and once he got in a hitter’s count he was looking for a ball to drive.

”There was a lot going on in that inning and I got a little excited,” he said.

It was a welcome display of power for a team which managed just five singles in a 2-1 loss to the Rays on Tuesday night that snapped Houston’s 12-game winning streak. Wednesday night’s win made the Astros the first team to reach 50 victories this season.

”It was a pretty electrifying crowd after three home runs one after another after another http://www.billsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-marshall-newhouse-jersey ,” manager A.J. Hinch said. ”Obviously, it was a huge inning for us. What energy that got put back into the building and also our team. Pretty impressive.”

Houston starter Charlie Morton (9-1) allowed just two hits and one unearned run in six innings for the win.

Eovaldi, who grew up in suburban Houston, entered the game 1-0 with a 2.52 ERA in four career starts against the Astros. But he allowed seven hits and four runs in six innings for his third straight loss.

”It’s just a matter of time before that offense gets you,” manager Kevin Cash said. ”He was efficient, they made some adjustments, but it was a lot of power and by that third time through, it kind of caught up. It’s just a very talented offense.”

Jake Bauers doubled with two outs in the first inning before Morton walked Wilson Ramos and plunked Joey Wendle to load the bases. But he escaped the jam when left fielder Tony Kemp made a diving catch on a ball hit by Willy Adames to end the inning.

”That’s probably the highlight of the game defensively for us just because a lot of things can happen there,” Hinch said. ”We’re playing a little bit deep, it looked like he got a little bit of a late start and then comes in with an acrobatic catch.”

Mallex Smith singled with one out in the fourth and scored when Carlos Gomez grounded out and first baseman Yuli Gurriel badly overthrew first base for an error to make it 1-0.

Altuve tied it up with his first home run of the night with one out in the fourth. It was the first multi-homer game in the regular season since July 24, 2016 for Altuve http://www.ravensauthorizedshops.com/authentic-lamar-jackson-jersey , who hit a career-best three in Game 1 of the ALDS against Boston last season.

The Astros added a run on an RBI single by Kemp with one out in the seventh.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Astros: Hinch said RHP Joe Smith (right elbow inflammation) was feeling a lot better on Wednesday and is likely to throw off the mound either this weekend or early next week.

Rays: Manager Kevin Cash said INF Daniel Robertson (left hamstring strain) is doing well and should come off the disabled list on Friday.

KIERMAIER’S STRUGGLES

Tampa Bay’s Kevin Kiermaier went 0 for 4 with two strikeouts after going 0 for 5 on Wednesday night in his first game back after missing more than two months following thumb surgery. His slump is a continuation of the struggles he had before the injury and he’s hitting just .135 in 14 games this season.

”Unfortunately, K.K. just got off to a rough start and takes a month or two months off,” Cash said. ”The numbers are going to be ugly for a little while, but I’m very confident he’ll get going.”

UP NEXT

Rays: Tampa Bay is off on Thursday before beginning a three-game series with the New York Yankees on Friday. They have yet to announce their pitching rotation for that series.

Astros: Houston also has a day off on Thursday before hosting Kansas City in the opener of a three-game series on Friday. Left-hander Dallas Keuchel (4-8, 4.15 ERA), who got his first win since May 13 in his last start, will oppose Royals‘ lefty Danny Duffy.

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Binge drinking for hours in stadium parking lots, a few Philly fans flexed their beer muscles with throws that were as on point as Nick Foles connecting with his Eagles receivers.

Sure, the Minnesota Vikings fans who walked through hostile enemy territory that would set the stage for malfeasance at the NFC championship game had to expect the boos, the four-letter words, the obscene gestures http://www.chargersauthorizedshops.com/authentic-kyzir-white-jersey , the shouts to go home, the, well, the misconduct list goes on for churlish Eagles fans.

On a few occasions, cooler heads prevailed.

As in fans opened coolers, plucked cheap beers and chucked unopened cans at Vikings fans.

This was a dangerous twist on Target Field for the Minnesota faithful.

Social media users captured snapshots of fans dodging and weaving cans, crushed red solo cups and all kinds of trash launched toward anyone in purple and gold, and many more Vikings fans complained on Twitter of witnessing random acts of violence. Some fans whined their Vikings hats were swiped off their heads and tossed into urinals before Eagles fans showed why their team was No. 1 in the NFC.

Mongo from “Blazing Saddles” would surely tip his cap at the way Eagles fans can sock a horse .

Philly boos were supplanted by Minnesota boo-hoos .

Beware, Minneapolis.

Eagles fans are coming to your city.

And the Massholes are joining in on the Super Bowl bash.

Patriots-Eagles is more than a 2005 Super Bowl rematch. It sticks two of the more maligned – and misunderstood – fanbases in the NFL within striking distance of each other at US Bank Stadium.

It’s time to line `em up – the Santa Snowball Hurlers vs. the Deflategate Truthers in a fight for the checkered flag of most obnoxious fans.

But certainly not the most violent.

The West Coast takes a (tarnished) gold among American sports fans, with stabbings reported at games in San Diego and San Francisco; while fan arrests at New York Giants games generally lead the league.

Eagles fans involved were in a scuffle with and police officers in one parking lot that left at least one fan beaten and bloodied before the NFC championship game. Police only reported two arrests for disorderly conduct and one for assault on police. They also reported three arrests for counterfeit ticket sales.

Patriots fans invoke a different kind of hate.

NFL fans from Kansas City to Jacksonville are just sick – or jealous – of the Patriots going to the Super Bowl and watching New England celebrate on duck boats and parade routes. Patriots fans are often called entitled or nauseating for their Super Bowl gloating. There are New England teens who believe Super Bowl appearances are as much a given right as lobster rolls and clam chowder.

It wasn’t all serious in Philly.

After the game, huge crowds gathered in neighborhoods around the city cheering and chanting.

Earlier in the day http://www.giantsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-nate-solder-jersey , workers in Philadelphia who jokingly called themselves the ”Crisco Cops” greased light poles to try to prevent fans from climbing up them after the game.

During the fourth quarter, Philadelphia police posted an image of Crisco on Twitter . While urging fans to celebrate responsibly, they wrote, ”Now comes the time in the night where we must warn everyone about the dangers of Saturated Fats.”

Just don’t tell Vikings fans about frivolity in Philly.

Jana Hokinson of Manson, Iowa, was one Vikings fan who traveled to Philadelphia for the game. She told Minneapolis’ WCCO-AM radio that she walked into the stadium with a group of other Vikings fans. Suddenly, two men in the front of the group were hit in the head with something and bleeding.

”One guy had a cracked forehead and the back of his right ear was just bleeding. The other guy, it was his left ear,” she said.

She said that security told their group there was nothing they could do.

Once she got to her seat, the fans around her were giving her group some good-natured grief at first, but after the Vikings scored Malik Jefferson Color Rush Jersey , one of her sisters got spit on by Eagles fans, and another sister had food thrown at her.

She said she left after the third quarter and ”security escorted us out because I got beer cans thrown at me.”

Hokinson said they were escorted to the car, but they had promised to give a man from Minneapolis a ride to the airport. Security had to go back and retrieve that Vikings fan from his club seat because Eagles fans were blocking him and wouldn’t let him leave.

”It was crazy,” she told the radio station.

When the Eagles fans come to Minnesota: ”I just hope our fans stay classy. Because that’s a whole other level of crazy down there. And I know the fans up in Minnesota, they’re not going to stoop that low. I hope they don’t.”

Yes, that’s classic sweatheart thinking that everyone in Minnesota is so nice.

Not always true. Not necessarily a problem. The all-day tailgating isn’t generally in full 0.20 BAC levels at the Super Bowl as it is on NFL Sundays and the league will generally assemble a massive task force to thwart fan violence.

Vikings receiver Adam Thielen said he hopes Minnesotans hold no grudges.

”You can’t group all Eagles fans into that group,” Thielen said one day after his team bus was pelted with beer on its way out of Philly. ”It’s kind of the same thing with the NFL sometimes. If somebody gets in trouble, it kind of gets put on everybody.”

Still, it might be a good thing Mary Richards isn’t around to toss her winter cap in the air.

It might end up caught and tossed in a toilet.