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HOUSTON -- Houston manager Bo Porter knows that many question why he keeps penciling Chris Carter into the lineup game after game when the designated hitter is batting below .200. Carter illustrated perfectly Wednesday night why Porter sticks with him. Carter homered twice, Dallas Keuchel pitched eight strong innings and the Astros beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 5-1. Carters first solo home run made it 3-1 in the fourth inning, and he added an opposite-field shot in the seventh. It was the fifth career multihomer game for Carter and second this year. The slugger has struggled this season and is batting just .199, but his power is undeniable and hes tied for the team lead with 12 homers. "Hes been up and down this year," Porter said. "The power numbers are there. The batting average is not there, but at the same time hes had some big hits and tonight is a step in a huge direction to him getting going." Carter led the Astros with 29 homers and 82 RBIs last year in his first full season in the majors. He feels less pressure at the plate now that the lineup has been beefed up with the addition of rookies Jon Singleton and George Springer. "Its nice to have guys like that where you dont feel like youre the only guy in the lineup where you have to do everything or everyone is looking to you to get a home run or something," Carter said. Keuchel (8-3) won for the sixth time in seven starts. He allowed four hits and a run, striking out five and lowering his ERA to 2.38. Even though the game is more than a month away, Porter was already stumping for Keuchel to get the All-Star call. "You look at the season Dallas Keuchel has put together to this point and if hes not an All-Star, what is? He continues to impress," Porter said. "Its a joy to watch." Brandon McCarthy (1-9) allowed eight hits and four runs in six-plus innings to remain winless since May 3. "I wasnt sharp from the get-go, but I thought I did a good job to get as deep as I could," McCarthy said. "The seventh inning there. The home run hurts and the guys getting on after that hurts and kind of spoils everything." Aaron Hill homered in the fourth for Arizonas only extra-base hit. Springer had two hits and an RBI and Singleton drove in a run as the Astros won for the fifth time in seven games. McCarthy has had success in Houston in the past and entered the game 2-0 with a 0.60 ERA in his career at Minute Maid Park. But the Astros got going against him early, with Springer singling in the first, Singleton drawing a walk and Jason Castro grounding an RBI single. Singleton was thrown out at third on the play. Jonathan Villar singled to start Houstons third before a one-out single by Springer. Both players advanced on a wild pitch by McCarthy before Villar scored on a groundout by Singleton to make it 2-0. The Diamondbacks didnt get a hit until Hill led off the fourth with his homer to the Crawford Boxes in left field to cut the lead to 2-1. Paul Goldschmidt singled after Hills homer, but Keuchel got back on track after that and retired 13 of his next 14 batters. The only hit in that span came on a single by Chris Owings with one out in the sixth inning. Ender Inciarte singled with two outs in the Arizona eighth, but Keuchel retired Owings to end the inning and Keuchels night. Springer drove in a run with a sacrifice fly in the seventh inning. NOTES: The series wraps up on Thursday when Arizonas Wade Miley opposes Scott Feldman. ... Houston 2B Jose Altuve missed his first game of the season because of soreness in his oblique muscle. Porter said Altuve didnt want to take the day off and tried to convince him to let him play. ... Diamondbacks OF Gerardo Parra was out of the lineup for a scheduled day off. ... The Astros signed several players taken in last weeks draft. They signed second round pick 1B A.J. Reed, RHP Ryan Thompson (23rd round), RHP Vince Wheeland (24th round), LHP Zach Davis (25th round), INF Mott Hyde (26th round), RHP Brandon McNitt (27th round) and RHP Keegan Yuhl (35th round). Detroit Tigers Omar Infante Jersey . - Steve Stricker usually doesnt show up at a tournament on Sunday. Justin Upton Jersey . He chirped to the caddie of Brandt Snedeker about their money game, a Mickelson tradition at the majors. Lefty was in good spirits Monday at the British Open, except for having to return the claret jug. http://www.baseballtigersproshop.com/al ... rs-jersey/. Peko, a fourth-round pick in 2006, started all 16 games and a playoff loss to San Diego last season. He was second on the line with 72 tackles and had a career-high three sacks. Lance Parrish Jersey . Azarenka needed exactly one hour in a 6-1, 6-0 rout of Austrian Yvonne Meusburger to start the night session at Laver Arena. Sharapova had a much easier time earlier in the day with cooler conditions and took full advantage in 6-1, 7-6 (8-6) win over Frenchwoman Alize Cornet, while Radwanska had to rally for a 5-7, 6-2, 6-2 victory over Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. Ian Kinsler Jersey . Bouchard went down to a 1-6, 6-1, 6-2 defeat at the hands of Svitolina in her opening match at the Sony Open on Friday. Bouchard got the rivalry going two years ago when she won the junior Wimbledon title over Svitolina.EDMONTON - It took a full-team effort from the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday to halt a six-game losing streak. Five players had a multi-point performance and goaltender Ben Scrivens made 34 saves as Edmonton avoided a seventh straight loss by defeating the visiting Nashville Predators 5-1. "It was a good team win, all four lines and all six defence were rolling pretty good," said Edmonton defenceman Justin Schultz. "We got contributions from everyone tonight. Whether they were on the score sheet or not, everyone played well. It was nice to get a win." Ryan Smyth, Jordan Eberle, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Schultz had a goal and an assist apiece for the Oilers (16-32-7), who captured just their fifth win in the last 22 games, while Taylor Hall chipped in with two assists. Nail Yakupov added a single goal. "It was nice to get out to an early lead and I thought we carried momentum shift after shift in the first period," Smyth said. "We desperately needed a win, to build some confidence. Now we have confidence that we can win. We can come from behind if we need to, but it was nice to play with the lead." The Oilers have had five losing streaks reach five games or more this season, with six being their longest. David Legwand responded for the Predators (23-23-8), who have lost two in a row against a pair of Alberta teams that are both in the bottom three spots in the standings, blowing a lead in a 5-4 shootout loss in Calgary on Friday. "Im quite disappointed," said Nashville head coach Barry Trotz. "We had a game in Calgary the other day and let a point slip away and tonight we had it 1-1 late in the first and I thought we would be in good shape. We gave up a poor goal in terms of our structure, it was bad coverage by us. When they got the third goal it took a lot of steam out of our bench." Veteran Predators forward Paul Gaustad said the last two losses have hurt for a team trying to claw its way into the playoff picture. "Its obviously not the result we wanted," he said. "Every team in this league is a really good team, no matter what the standings always say. We need to find ways to get two points. We have to start making a move up, we cant go down in the standings right now. These last two games, we needed to find a way to get more points. Its something were not happy with." Edmonton started the scoring three minutes into the game as Jesse Joensuu saw Schultz streaking in from the point and hooked a pass to the defender for a hard shot that beat Predators starter Carter Hutton. Nashville tied the game up with four-and-a-half minutes to play in the opening period as Legwand elected to shoot it himself on a two-on-one break and picked the top corner past Scrivens. Thhe Oilers went into the dressing rooms on a positive note after a goal with 12 seconds left in the first period as Hall sent a great pass through the legs of defender Roman Josi to give Eberle an easy redirection into the net from the doorstep.dddddddddddd. It was a significant goal, as the Predators came into the game with a 1-16-2 record when trailing after the first period. Nashville thought it had clawed even just 48 seconds in to the second period, but Taylor Beck was called for goalie interference for running over Scrivens as he chipped the puck in and the goal was disallowed. Edmonton went up by two goals midway through the second as Smyth picked up a rebound in the crease and hooked it past Hutton. It was Smyths 125th power-play goal as an Oiler, tying him for second spot on the teams all-time list with Wayne Gretzky and putting him one back of leader Glenn Anderson. "For Ryan, that was a special thing to do," said Oilers head coach Dallas Eakins. "Hopefully he can keep moving up the charts. Anything that has Mr. Gretzkys name on it and you can match it, its a great, great accomplishment." Smyth is also one goal back of hitting the top 100 list of all-time NHL scorers. Edmonton made it 4-1 with three minutes left in the second frame as Sam Gagner hit a trailing Yakupov on an odd-man rush and the 2012 first overall NHL draft pick sent home his 10th of the season. The Predators turned the third period into something of a shooting gallery at the Edmonton net and thought they had finally been rewarded on what looked to have been a Craig Smith goal, but once again Beck was called for goaltender interference as he was actually lying on top of Scrivens when the puck trickled across the line. "Ive never seen anything like that," Beck said. "On the first one I was just taking the puck hard to the net and my momentum kind of ran the goalie a little bit. I think the puck would have gone into the net regardless, but the ref called it no goal. On the second one I was getting hacked and whacked and ended up falling on the goalie and again it was disallowed. Those things happen, I guess. Hopefully next time it is called the other way." Edmonton put the game away for good with four-and-a-half minutes left to play after some quick passing on the power play led to Nugent-Hopkins 15th goal of the season. Scrivens was peppered with 35 shots on the night, 17 of which came in the third period. "Scrivens did an unbelievable job tonight, he was barking and talking and he was conducting the orchestra back there," Eakins said. "Ben was excellent directing traffic." The Oilers return to action on Monday night with a quick trip to Vancouver. The Predators conclude a four-game trip in Winnipeg on Tuesday. Cheap NFL Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys Jerseys From China Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys ' ' '