ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- The Tampa Bay Rays are hopeful that a successful series against Houston is the start of a turnaround. Yunel Escobar drove in two runs during a three-run sixth inning and the Rays beat the Astors 5-2 on Sunday. Escobar hit a two-run single and Sean Rodriguez had an RBI grounder off Dallas Keuchel (8-5) to give the Rays a 4-2 lead in the sixth. The Rays are 8-18 over their past 26 games, including five wins in seven games against Houston. Tampa Bay took three of four in the weekend series. "We won, thats the bottom line," Rays third baseman Evan Longoria said. "Weve got a lot of work to do. We put ourselves in a pretty good hole, but I think that the belief on a daily basis is still we can come to the ballpark and win." Keuchel allowed five runs and nine hits in an eight-inning complete game. It was his third complete game this season. "We did some good things today against a tough pitcher," Longoria said. Dexter Fowler put the Astros up 1-0 when he hit the first pitch of the game from Erik Bedard into the left-field seats. It was his ninth career leadoff homer and third this season. Bedard, who was with Houston last season, gave up two runs and seven hits in 5 1-3 innings. Juan Carlos Oviedo (3-2) got two outs in the sixth for the win. Joel Peralta pitched the ninth for his first save. Rodriguez made it 5-2 on an eighth-inning sacrifice fly. Houston took a 2-1 lead in the third on Jose Altuves single. Jonathan Villar opened the inning with a double, was awarded a steal of third after a replay challenge resulted in an out call being overturned and scored on the hit by Altuve. Altuve has 13 hits in his past 24 at-bats. The Rays tied it at 1 in the bottom of the first on Longorias single Desmond Jennings was caught attempting to steal home with Longoria batting to end the third, a call that was confirmed by a replay review. After catcher Carlos Corporan threw the ball back to Keuchel, Jennings broke for the plate, but was tagged by Corporan after a return throw from Keuchel. "I know he does some uncharacteristic stuff," Kuechel said. "I dont turn my back from the guy on third, so I caught him out of the corner of my eye and just tried to get the ball out as soon as possible." "I still think Desmond was safe," Rays manager Joe Maddon said. "I think throughout this whole process, the think thats really standing out to me, Im into replay, I still believe there needs to be a separate group of umpires that are just out there specifically for replay only. That I hope would be the next step in regards to getting this thing nailed down." NOTES: SS Carlos Correa, taken first overall in the 2012 draft by the Astros, left Saturdays game with Class A Lancaster with a right ankle injury, which occurred while sliding. He will go on the disabled list. "Carlos was examined last night at a local hospital in California," Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow said. "He will travel to Houston early this week to be evaluated further by the Astros medical staff before determining next steps." ... Rays RHP Alex Cobb (2-5) will go against Pirates RHP Edinson Volquez (4-6) in the opener of a three-game series Monday. ... The Astros are off Monday. ... Houston starts a three-game series Tuesday against Atlanta with RHP Scott Feldman (3-4) and Braves RHP Aaron Harang (5-6) the scheduled starters. ... Three-year old Ireland Nugent, who has been fitted with leg prosthetics after a lawnmower accident, threw the ceremonial first pitch. Cheap Adidas Nmd r1 . There are practical ideas, like this Chewbaca inspired Star Wars jerseys. Star Wars themed jerseys for the Toledo Mud Hens. Wholesale Adidas Nmd . Chile applied pressure in midfield right from the beginning, challenging aggressively and continually surging forward. Eduardo Vargas beat the offside trap and fired home a stinging shot for Chiles opening goal in the fifth minute. http://www.nmdsneakerssale.com/nmd-shoes-womens-deals.html. - The Carolina Panthers believe Steve Smith lost "top-end" speed, a big reason the franchise parted ways with its all-time leading receiver. Yeezy Boost 350 Wholesale . -- The Val-dOr Foreurs made it to the Memorial Cup semifinal thanks to their workhorse goaltender and their ability to hang around like a bad cold. Yeezy 350 Boost Usa . "Its embarrassing what were doing here," leading scorer Phil Kessel said Wednesday. The most recent failed season came with even more pain than the six that preceded it. There was no hint of an impending implosion when the Leafs came roaring out of the all-star break with back-to-back games against Pittsburgh -- a 5-4 shootout loss followed by a 1-0 win the next night.MILWAUKEE -- Its been a busy summer for Milwaukee Bucks general manager John Hammond. After hiring a new coach, Hammond set his sights on the NBA draft, then got to work rebuilding the roster, eventually bringing 11 new players to Milwaukee. Last week, however, Hammond made sure one of those players still around after last season stays in Milwaukee for a while. He signed centre Larry Sanders to a four-year extension worth approximately $44 million. "Weve talked about moving forward as an organization and building around young players on our roster," Hammond said. "Hes one, if not the, key, core piece for us moving forward. This is a great step for us for who we want to become." The extension comes after a breakout year for 24-year-old Sanders, who led Milwaukee in rebounds (9.5 per game) and averaged 9.8 points, both career highs. His 2.83 blocks per game were second in the NBA to Oklahoma Citys Serge Ibaka. "Hes one of the top defenders in the NBA," Hammond said. "Hes one of the top shot-blockers in our business and hes only going to get better defensively, get better on offence and were really excited to have him be a part of our organization long-term." Offensively, Sanders is still a work-in-progress, but has shown marked improvement over his first three seasons and shot a career-best 50.6 per cent from the field. Free throw shooting is soomething of a concern -- hes 58 per cent from the line in his career but -- but he connected at a 61.dddddddddddd8 per cent clip a year ago while averaging 8.5 attempts. Milwaukee selected Sanders with the 15th overall pick in the 2010 draft. He was set to enter the final year of his four-year rookie-scale contract, which will pay him $3 million this season. Getting better on offence is a key goal for Sanders and new coach Larry Drew. "Not just going to the basket but trying to facilitate more, open the court and understand the offence more," Sanders said. "Theres a lot on the offensive end Im working on." Sanders emotional play has made him a crowd-favourite at the Bradley Center, but has also made him a target for officials, who ejected him a league-leading five times last season, including three in a span of 10 days. He finished fifth in the league with 3.3 fouls per game and was third with 14 technicals. "My focus needs to be on winning the game," Sanders said. "I know coach hates when we talk to the officials ... so Ill just watch him." Not long after taking the job, Drew sat down with Sanders and made it clear that things had to change. "We went to dinner and talked," Drew said. "It was a very frank and candid conversation; he realized he had to get better and its something Im going to expect of him." ' ' '