Martin Maldonado ripped a tiebreaking double in the ninth inning and Jose Altuve homered for the third straight game to help the Houston Astros notch a 6-4 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Friday night in the opener of a three-game series at Minneapolis.

Yuli Gurriel also homered, Alex Bregman had two RBIs without a hit and Michael Brantley went 4-for-4 with an RBI as the Astros won for the ninth time in the past 12 games.

Right-hander Jose Urquidy gave up three runs -- on three solo homers -- and four hits over seven innings. He struck out eight and walked one.

Josh Donaldson hit two homers while Nelson Cruz and Miguel Sano added solo shots for the Twins.

Donaldson's second blast was a solo blast over the high wall in right off right-hander Ryne Stanek (1-1) to tie it at 4 in the eighth. Donaldson has gone deep 10 times this season.

Myles Straw singled to start the ninth against Twins right-hander Matt Shoemaker (2-8) and moved to second on a passed ball by Ryan Jeffers. After failing to lay down a sacrifice bunt, Maldonado laced a 2-2 splitter that one-hopped the wall in the left-field corner to score Straw with the decisive run.

Brantley singled home Maldonado later in the inning.

Right-hander Ryan Pressly struck out two in a perfect ninth for his 10th save.

Houston faced a two-run deficit when Altuve came up with one out in the fifth and sent a liner down the left-field line. The ball was initially ruled foul but a review displayed that it hit the side of the foul pole and was ruled to be a homer, Altuve's 12th of the season.

The Astros tied it in the sixth when Gurriel hit his 10th homer to lead off the inning against right-hander Jorge Alcala.

Houston moved ahead 4-3 in the seventh as Altuve walked with one out and Brantley was hit by a pitch from right-hander Tyler Duffey. Both runners moved up on a wild pitch before Bregman's infield grounder plated Altuve.

Minnesota right-hander Bailey Ober allowed two runs and seven hits over five innings. He struck out seven and walked one.

The Twins played longball to open up a 3-1 lead as Cruz smacked his 12th blast with two outs in the first inning, Sano led off the second with his 13th and Donaldson hit his first of the night with two outs in the third.

The Astros scored their first run in the third on Bregman's sacrifice fly.

--Field Level Media