Astros thump Mets 8-6 for 4th straight win
10-game West Coast trip starts Monday in Seattle

(c) Houston Chronicle

The Astros put the finishing touches on a 3-game sweep of the Mets with Sunday afternoon's 8-6 win at Minute Maid Park. Mike Fiers had another rough outing, but Mets starter Christopher Flexen was worse.

Fiers walked the first two batters he faced and both came around to score, giving Flexen a 2-0 lead to work with.

Josh Reddick cut the lead in half with an RBI single with two outs in the bottom of the first.

The Mets tallied two more runs in the second with another leadoff walk from Fiers igniting the rally. Fiers recorded a 1-2-3 inning in the third and the Astros' bats heated up in the bottom half of the inning.

Alex Bregman, who scored the Astros' first run of the game, got things started with a single up the middle. Jose Altuve followed with a walk. Carlos Correa, returning to the lineup after missing seven weeks with a thumb injury, singled to score Bregman and advance Altuve to third. Josh Reddick reached base on a swinging bunt that travelled about 50 feet down the third-base side and Cameron Maybin crushed a 3-run homer, his first as an Astro, to put Houston on top 6-4.

George Springer led off the fourth with a tape-measure blast to leftfield off Flexen to extend the Astros' lead to 7-4.

Fiers gave up a run-scoring single to Norichika Aoki in the fifth and was pulled from the game with one out and runners on first and second. Tyler Clippard came on in relief and didn't exactly put out the fire. The well-travelled reliever hit a batter and walked in a run before escaping with a 7-6 lead.

Will Harris pitched around a single and a stolen base by Jose Reyes to record a scoreless sixth inning and was credited with the win. Luke Gregerson earned a hold for a scoreless seventh that included a Dominic Smith double and an intentional walk.

Jeurys Familia came in to pitch the seventh for the Mets and plunked Altuve to start the frame. Jose moved to second on his league-leading 31st stolen base and aggressively moved to third on a groundout. Reddick delivered an insurance run for the Astros with a sacrifice fly to deep center that allowed Altuve to leisurely trot to the plate.

Chris Devenski worked the final two innings to record his fourth save of the season despite allowing a double and a couple of walks along the way. Devo notched three strikeouts, including two in the ninth before getting a pop-up to Correa to end the game.

- Greg Thurston