Astros try to make it two in a row in Seattle

The Houston Astros try to make it two straight wins on Wednesday when they play the rubber match of their three-game series against the Seattle Mariners at Safeco Field.

Houston's bats woke up in a big way on Tuesday, as Chris Carter hit two home runs and Jose Altuve went 4-for-6 with a homer and four RBI to help guide the Astros to a 16-9 win. J.D. Martinez and Marwin Gonzalez also hit home runs for Houston, which snapped a six-game skid.

"It was only a matter of time," Houston manager Bo Porter said. "We've had confidence the whole time they could hit. It was unfortunate the games prior to (Tuesday) that we had not hit, but it was good to see."

Erik Bedard struck out three in four shutout innings for the Astros while allowing just one hit. Paul Clemens (1-0) picked up his first career win in his MLB debut despite allowing five earned runs and three long balls in four innings of work.

The Astros, which had managed just 17 runs through their first seven games, knocked Seattle starter Brandon Maurer out of the game after just two-thirds of an inning pitched. Maurer surrendered six earned runs and seven hits before giving way to the bullpen.

"These are days you just forget," said Seattle manager Eric Wedge. "You take whatever good you can out of it, some good things happened for us offensively at the end of the game, but from a pitching perspective, we just had a very off day, everybody was scuffling today. It was just a bad day."

Jason Bay and Raul Ibanez each belted pinch-hit home runs for the Mariners, who have lost five of seven.

Hoping for a better effort in Wednesday's finale, Seattle will hand the ball to righty Blake Beavan, who pitched poorly his first time out against Chicago. Beavan did not get a decision against the White Sox, but was hammered for five runs and six hits in five innings.

"I just wasn't executing pitches with my offspeed, and my fastball obviously should have been a better weapon for me to use, but I didn't utilize it enough when I needed it," said Beavan. "I just need to learn from it. The main thing is we got a win. We kept it right there and these guys stepped up and got a couple runs late in the game for us."

Houston, meanwhile, will counter with righty Brad Peacock, who lost his major league debut on Friday against Oakland. Peacock couldn't get out of the fifth inning in that one and surrendered two runs and three hits with three walks in 4 1/3 innings.

"I was a little too amped up the first two innings, but I calmed down and feel like I did OK," Peacock said. "By the end of it, I felt great, and was keeping the ball down. I've just got to get in better counts. I'm going to work on it in my next bullpen and I should be fine."

This is Houston's first visit to Seattle since 2004.