Astros use long ball to take down Nationals

Four different players slugged solo home runs while rookie right-hander Hunter Brown recorded his second scoreless start of the season as the Houston Astros claimed a 6-1 interleague victory over the visiting Washington Nationals on Tuesday.

Mauricio Dubon, Kyle Tucker, Martin Maldonado and Chas McCormick each went deep for the Astros, who won for just the second time in their last seven games.

Brown (6-3) snapped a two-start losing streak by inducing timely double-play grounders to steer clear of trouble. He faced the minimum in the first, second, fourth and fifth innings despite allowing baserunners in three of those frames.

Lane Thomas worked a leadoff walk in the first while Jeimer Candelario reached on a wild pitch after striking out in the second before drawing a one-out walk in the fourth. Brown responded by getting Luis Garcia to roll into a double play in the first before Corey Dickerson did the same in the second. Candelario was erased by a throw from Maldonado to Dubon while attempting to swipe second base in the fourth.

Brown stranded Dominic Smith and CJ Abrams in scoring position in the third and induced Joey Meneses to tap into an inning-ending double play in the sixth.

Brown allowed four hits and three walks while recording four strikeouts over seven innings. He blanked the Tampa Bay Rays over seven innings on April 26 and also allowed zero earned runs in back-to-back starts against the Minnesota Twins and Texas Rangers earlier that same month.

Dubon and Tucker smacked their homers off Nationals starter Patrick Corbin (4-7) in the fifth inning. Dubon clubbed his third home run of the season, while Tucker hit his ninth.

Maldonado socked his 100th career home run leading off the seventh against Nationals reliever Chad Kuhl. Jose Abreu, who notched his 1,500th career hit by leading off the second with a double, drove home Jose Altuve with a two-out single later in the seventh. Altuve became the fourth player in franchise history to score 1,000 runs.

McCormick greeted Washington reliever Thaddeus Ward with his sixth home run, a 392-foot shot to left center, to lead off the eighth.

Abreu finished 2-for-3 with a walk. Altuve walked twice and added an RBI single in the eighth.

Corbin allowed two runs on four hits in five innings. He walked five and fanned five.