Martinez's grand slam helps Astros beat Giants

SAN FRANCISCO -- After two losses, including being on the wrong end of a perfect game, J.D. Martinez's fourth-inning grand slam lifted the Houston Astros to a 6-3 win over the San Francisco Giants on Thursday afternoon.

"I feel like we're the type of team that one or two games isn't going to put us down for too long," Martinez said. "I feel like every day we're going to come out, compete and play the game hard. Even if we win five in a row or lose five in a row, it doesn't matter. We're just going to go out there and play hard and we've been doing that all season long."

Wandy Rodriguez (6-4) had a quality start for the Astros, pitching six innings, allowing six hits and three runs. He walked two and struck out three for the win.

"When I started the game, I felt very good, but later in the sixth inning, my shoulder was a little tired," Rodriguez said. "I can pitch in my next start, not a problem, though. It was a very important (win) for us because we had lost two, and today with the win now we can go after the Rangers and we're excited."

Matt Downs, a one-time Giant who was drafted by San Francisco in 2006, also homered, and Justin Maxwell had an RBI single in the eighth for insurance.

Barry Zito (5-4) surrendered five runs on five hits in five innings and has lost three of his last five starts.

"Outside of that one inning, I felt like I was locating decent, but that one inning things got away," Zito said. "I can improve on a lot of things."

Brandon Belt hit a two-run homer for the Giants, and he has homered in each of the three games in this series.

There was no suspense that history would be made a little more than 12 hours after Matt Cain's perfect game, the first for the Giants franchise. Jose Altuve singled to left on the second pitch of the game.

"You can't (think about the no-hitter). Just go out there and make your pitches and that's what Matty did yesterday, Zito said. "Make your pitches and things happen after that out of your control so that's what I was focusing on today."

"Let's end this right away," Martinez said. "As soon as Altuve got the first hit, it kind of got that monkey off us and then Downsy just got us all going."

In the fourth inning, Zito walked the bases loaded with one out, issuing three straight walks to Altuve, Brian Bixler, and Jed Lowrie.

On an 0-1 count with the bases full and no margin for error, Zito threw an 84 mph fastball that Martinez launched to the bleachers in left field.

"You saw he was making some mistakes, falling behind and walking guys," Martinez said. "He wasn't going to fall too far behind and then he had to give me something, so that's the mindset I went up there with was be aggressive. I didn't really care that he'd walked three guys, and if I got a pitch I was going to go for it.

For the Giants, catcher Hector Sanchez singled to left in the fourth, and he scored on a Belt home run into McCovey Cove, the body of water named for Giants Hall of Famer Willie McCovey. Although Sanchez later would hit a sacrifice fly in the sixth inning, Belt grounded into a double play ending a potential rally.

"They battled back and got close there but walks killed us," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "We had trouble getting it over the plate, and I think four of their runs came via walks, and those things beat you. We just came up short but you're hoping to finish the deal (with a sweep), and we couldn't do it today."

NOTES: Zito has lost his last two decisions and his career record is 150-128. He is one of 12 active pitchers with at least 150 victories... Belt's home run was the 61st "splash hit" into McCovey Cove at AT&T Park. He now has three home runs but was homer-less in the first 61 games of the season ... First baseman Aubrey Huff sprained his right knee in the post-game celebration with teammates on the field after Cain's perfect game. He had an MRI and is likely to go on the disabled list. Huff is batting .155 in 32 games with one home run and five RBI. ... The Giants are 1-26 when trailing after eight innings.... Astros first baseman Carlos Lee began a rehab assignment with Double-A Corpus Christi and will be the designated hitter. Lee has been on the disabled list since June 2 with a strained left hamstring.... It was the first career grand slam for Martinez. ... The Astros are 26-1 when leading after eight innings.