Kansas City rookie Daniel Lynch pitched seven strong innings as the Royals defeated the visiting Houston Astros 3-1 Tuesday night.

The Royals, who have won the first two games of the four-game series, earned their 30th come-from-behind victory of the season.

Lynch (3-3) allowed one run on four hits and three walks while striking out five against the team with the best batting average and on-base percentage in the majors. The seven innings were one shy of his career high.

Another rookie, Jake Brentz, earned his second save, working around a pair of ninth-inning walks.

Kansas City's Andrew Benintendi went 2-for-4 with two runs. Salvador Perez, playing in his 1,000th game as a catcher, was 0-for-4.

Framber Valdez (8-4) took the loss after giving up three runs on nine hits in 6 2/3 innings with one walk and five strikeouts. He allowed at least one hit in each inning and worked around most of the trouble.

The Astros got their lone run in the third inning on an RBI single by Carlos Correa. Lynch got himself into trouble by allowing the bottom two batters in the order to reach on a double by Jake Meyers and a walk to Martin Maldonado.

He retired the next two batters before Correa laced a hit into center to plate Meyers. Michael A. Taylor threw out Maldonado at the plate for his career-high-tying eighth outfield assist of the year.

The Royals answered in the fourth. Benintendi hit a one-out single. With two outs and a full count, he was off with the pitch and scored easily on Taylor's double to left.

Kansas City took the lead in the sixth. Benintendi reached on a one-out infield hit when Valdez forgot to cover first on a grounder to the right side. Hunter Dozier was hit by a pitch, and Hanser Alberto then pulled a two-out double past a diving Aledmys Diaz at third, scoring both runners.

--Field Level Media