With season-high 19 hits, Astros roll in Game 1

MINNEAPOLIS — The struggles of the Astros’ offense the previous two weeks suddenly seem like a distant memory.

The Astros erupted for a season-high 19 hits, including four hits by Jose Altuve and Marwin Gonzalez, and got a three-run homer from Carlos Correa to club the Twins, 15-7, in the first game of a day-night doubleheader Thursday afternoon at Target Field.

“We haven’t put up a game like this in a while,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. “To get that kind of contribution out of everybody, there’s a lot of guys today that had good-hitting days and a lot of guys in a row. We were able to hit with two outs, hit with two strikes, we did some damage. We did a really good job of a team effort.”

Kennys Vargas slugged a pair of home runs for the Twins, becoming the fourth player in club history to homer from both sides of the plate in the same game. Rookie Max Kepler also had three RBIs, including a two-run double in the third.

Astros starter Doug Fister (11-7) held the Twins to five runs and eight hits in seven-plus innings to win for the first time since July 20. Twins starter Jose Berrios (2-3) was rocked for six runs (five earned) and eight hits in two-plus innings.

“It’s about as poorly as you could draw it up,” Twins manager Paul Molitor said. “You’re looking for an outing to protect your staff as much as you can. It’s not always going to happen, especially when you have a young kid out there. He’s trying hard, but probably tried too hard, and centered a lot of balls.”

Back-to-back doubles by George Springer and Alex Bregman in the second gave the Astros a 6-0 lead, and Houston sent 10 batters to the plate in the fifth and scored six times, capped by Correa’s three-run homer to center field.

“I hit it good,” Correa said. “I wasn’t thinking it was going to go out because it was on a line, but it did. I’m really happy it did.”

MOMENTS THAT MATTEREDJose, can you hit? Altuve delivered his second consecutive four-hit game, giving him eight four-hit games this season, seven of which have come on the road. He’s hitting .438 on the road this season — .503 …

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