<p>ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. &mdash; Jose Urquidy scattered four hits over seven shutout innings and the Houston Astros made an early lead stand up, beating the Tampa Bay Rays 3-1 Saturday.</p>
<p>Jose Altuve doubled on the first pitch of the game, leading to a three-run inning. Houston got three hits in the first inning and only one more the rest of the game.</p>
<p>Urquidy (2-2) walked one and struck out five in winning his second straight start. He retired 11 in a row in one stretch and allowed only one runner to get as far as second base.</p>
<p>Brooks Raley and Ryan Pressley pitched the final two innings for Houston. Pressley earned his fifth save in five tries after giving up a run on Yandy Diaz’s groundball.</p>
<p>Alex Bregman hit an RBI single and Yuli Gurriel had a two-run single as the Astros won for the eighth time in 10 games.</p>
<p>Josh Fleming (1-3) gave up three runs on three hits and five walks in six innings.</p>
<p>Urquidy became the second straight Astros pitcher to shut the Rays out through seven innings, following Lance McCullers on Friday night in the series opener.</p>
<p>Brandon Lowe had two hits for the Rays, who have scored 20 runs on 56 hits while striking out 91 times in the first nine games of their 10-game homestand.</p>
<p>TRAINER’S ROOM</p>
<p>Astros: RHP Jake Odorizzi (right prorator muscle strain) threw on flat ground Saturday and will throw again Sunday before pitching on a mound. </p>
<p>Rays: LHP Rich Hill (COVID-19-related IL) and LHP Cody Reed (left thumb strain) were activated.</p>
<p>UP NEXT</p>
<p>RHP Christian Javier (3-0, 0.87), who gave up two hits in seven shutout innings against Seattle on Tuesday night, will make his fifth start in Sunday’s series finale against Rays LHP Rich Hill (1-1, 7.25 ). Hill has recovered from vaccine side effects.</p>
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