Base-running blunder by Gomez costly (c)Associated Press

The Astros offense finally showed up at around 4:00 Sunday afternoon. Unfortunately, the game started shortly after 1:00 P.M. Houston's five-run outburst in the ninth inning was too little, too late in a 7-5 loss to the Twins. Lance McCullers Jr. ran into some early struggles and the usually dependable bullpen couldn't get the job done when asked to keep it close.

Making his first start in a week, McCullers may have been a little rusty. Three first inning walks put Lance in a 1-0 hole, but it could have been a lot worse. The Twins also made some solid contact in the inning and a nice catch by Colby Rasmus prevented them from putting a crooked number on the scoreboard.

McCullers did a nice job of bouncing back, holding the Twins scoreless on only two hits over the next four innings. The bottom of the sixth, however, proved to be the turning point of the game. A pair of strikeouts sandwiched around a walk brought Eduardo Nunez to the plate. The Twins' third-baseman worked a seven-pitch at-bat, eventually hitting an off-speed pitch over the leftfield wall for a two-run homer and a 3-0 lead for Minnesota.

Chad Qualls and Oliver Perez proved to be horribly ineffective in the seventh, enabling the Twins to stretch their lead to 7-0. Vince Velasquez pitched a scoreless eighth and the slumbering Astros' offense woke up in the ninth.

Colby Rasmus started the inning with a sharp single to right. After a Carlos Gomez groundout, Luis Valbuena drew a walk. Chris Carter followed with a long home run to centerfield to avoid the shutout. It was the first longball in over a month for the big first-baseman whose prolonged slump has cost him a considerable amount of playing time.

A two-out single by Jake Marisnick ended reliever Ryan O'Roarke's day prematurely. Trevor May was summoned to get the final out of the game but Jose Altuve had a other ideas. The defending A.L. batting champ continued his big afternoon by turning on a first-pitch fastball and depositing it into the leftfield bleachers. Marwin Gonzalez, who already had three hits in the game, struck out to end it.

Altuve finished the day with four hits, including his eleventh home run of the season. The rest of the Astros' lineup had trouble solving Ervin Santana, who picked up his third win of the year with a seven-inning, ten-strikeout performance.

Having completed the road trip with a 3-3 record, the Astros now head back to Houston for a six-game homestand. Monday's 7:10 tilt against Seattle pits Dallas Keuchel against fellow lefty Vidal Nuno.

- Greg Thurston