Kazmir, A's power past Astros

Houston, TX (SportsNetwork.com) - Billy Butler, Brett Lawrie and Marcus Semien all homered to back another strong start from Scott Kazmir in the Oakland Athletics' 8-1 win over the Houston Astros.

Butler belted a three-run blast and Lawrie and Semien both had solo shots, with all three homers coming off Astros starter Scott Feldman.

Kazmir (2-0) didn't need such support in following up a stellar season debut last Wednesday against Texas, in which the lefty yielded just one hit and struck out 10 over seven scoreless innings. He went six in this one, fanning eight and permitting only a solo homer to Jose Altuve and two other hits.

Feldman (0-2), on the other hand, couldn't duplicate a solid effort in his previous outing, getting battered for all eight runs -- seven earned -- and 10 hits over five innings.

"I don't think Feldman had his good stuff today," Astros manager A.J. Hinch said.

Ben Zobrist added three hits, including an RBI double, to help the A's take the opener of this three-game set. Semien and Mark Canha each finished 2-for-4 with an RBI.

Altuve broke out of an early-season slump by recording three of Houston's five hits.

Feldman's rough night got off to an ominous beginning, as Astros shortstop Jonathan Villar booted Sam Fuld's grounder to open the game. Canha and Zobrist followed with RBI doubles and Ike Davis came through with a run-scoring single later on to quickly stake Oakland to a 3-0 lead.

Lawrie increased the margin by crushing Feldman's first-pitch cutter over the wall in left center to lead off the second, his first homer in an A's uniform.

Altuve ended a string of nine straight retired by Kazmir by homering to left to begin the fourth, but Oakland answered with a four-spot an inning later to turn the game into a rout.

After Semien started the fifth with a line-drive homer to left, Fuld and Zobrist singled in front of Butler's no-doubt blast that easily cleared the high wall in left center to expand the lead to 8-1.

"We have to put teams away when we have the chance," Butler said. "That's what we did tonight."

Kazmir departed after throwing 91 pitches, with Fernando Abad, Dan Otero and Jesse Chavez working a scoreless inning each to finish it off.

Game Notes

Feldman had allowed just one run over 6 2/3 innings in a 2-0 loss to Cleveland on Wednesday ... Houston's Evan Gattis snapped an 0-for-23 skid to begin the season by singling off Chavez in the ninth ... Butler has now hit safely in all eight games this season, while Canha owns a six-game hitting streak to begin his major league career ... The A's have outscored the opposition 38-1 in their four wins ... Asher Wojciechowski tossed four scoreless innings in relief of Feldman.