direct early in the first period kept the Swedes off the scoreboa

HOUSTON -- In these lean times for the Houston Astros, Chris Carter is showing more and more that he can be a difference-maker for this young team. Carter homered twice, including a go-ahead three-run shot in the seventh, to back seven strong innings from Bud Norris and give the Astros a 4-1 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday night. The victory breaks a five-game skid for the Astros, who had been shut out in their last two games. Carter broke a 22-inning scoring drought for Houston with his solo homer in the second off Roberto Hernandez (4-10) that tied it 1-1. He connected on a full-count pitch from Jake McGee on his second home run to make it 4-1 in the seventh. Carter leads the Astros with 17 homers and his 44 RBIs are tied for the team lead. He is the first Astro to reach 17 homers by July 3 since Lance Berkman in 2009. Just over halfway through the season, Carter is one homer shy of the 18 Justin Maxwell hit all of last season to lead the club. The Astros are enamoured with Carters power and impressed with his increased discipline at the plate recently. "He has a chance to hit 30 home runs and drive in 100," Houston manager Bo Porter said. "When you see that kind of progression and you see the adjustments being made, you really say to yourself moving forward that this guy has a chance to be a middle-of-the-order bat who can be very productive." He has reached base safely in 15 of his last 16 games and his hitting .315 with four homers and 10 RBIs in that span. Carter was just glad he could help the team get back on track after a tough couple of games. "Its nice to score some runs and get a win after the last two games where we didnt score and they outscored us by 20 runs," he said. "Im just happy we came out with a win right there." Norris (6-7) allowed six hits and one run with five strikeouts to break a three-game losing streak and pick up his first win since June 1. Jose Veras allowed a hit in a scoreless ninth for his 17th save. "Bud was absolutely outstanding," Porter said. "I thought he threw probably the best game of the season this year. His slider just had unbelievable depth ... hes our No. 1 guy and he pitched like a No. 1 guy again tonight." Hernandez allowed four hits and three runs in six-plus innings for his fourth consecutive loss. James Loney had two hits to extend his hitting streak to 14 games and Ben Zobrist drove in Tampa Bays only run with a sacrifice fly in the first. Carters homer in the second pinged off the facade on the wall above the Crawford Boxes in left field, giving the Astros their first earned run in 31 innings. It also broke a team record-tying 24-inning scoreless streak for Rays pitchers. It was the third time in team history theyd reached the mark. Jose Altuve singled with two outs in the third, but was caught stealing second to end the inning. Hernandez starting rolling after that and retired the next nine straight. He ran into trouble in the seventh when Brett Wallace doubled with no outs before he was chased by a single from Jason Castro. He was replaced by McGee, and Carter sent his 98 mph fastball to the train tracks atop the wall in left field. It was Carters second multi-homer game of the season and of his career. "Carter hurt us," Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon said. "He didnt miss two pitches. That one from Jake (McGee) was properly struck. That is back wall anywhere. That was incredible. You have to give them credit for the way they bounced back today, and their pitcher set up the whole thing." Norris hasnt had much run support lately, with the Astros scoring just three runs combined in his last three losses. A relieved-looking Norris greeted Carter with a hug and a huge smile in the dugout after his homer put Houston on top. The feeling Norris had when as he watched Carters homer was simple. "Pure joy," he said. "CCs (Carter) done it a few times for me, so weve just got to keep it going." The Rays had trouble stringing together hits against Norris. Their best chance to add to their run total came in the fifth. Jose Molinas comebacker sailed just inches above Norriss head for a single to start the inning. Norris then struck out Yunel Escobar and Molina was caught stealing second on the play. Norris walked consecutive batters, but escaped the jam by retiring Zobrist for the third out. Escobar singled with one out in the seventh before Jennings grounded into a double play to end the inning. NOTES: The series wraps up Thursday when Tampa Bays Chris Archer opposes Jordan Lyles. ... Houston DH Carlos Pena was back in the lineup after taking time to travel to the Dominican Republic following the drowning death of his nephew. He returned to the team on Tuesday after missing two games, but did not play. Pena said it was a difficult time for his family, but the support the team showed him made it a bit easier. "We have a lot of signs around here that we have family first and thats something that I saw firsthand, how they reacted to this situation," Pena said. "They did everything they could to make sure my family was all right and taken care of, which I appreciate."... Evan Longoria was Tampa Bays designated hitter for the second straight game after missing the previous three games with plantar fasciitis in his right foot. Manager Joe Maddon said he doesnt know when the All-Star third baseman will feel good enough to play defence, but thats OK with him. "Well just have to wait to get him on the field, but we have him as a DH well take it," Maddon said. Cheap Pirates Jerseys . LOUIS -- Mike Smith is used to facing plenty of shots, so this was nothing new. Fake Pirates Jerseys . "I wrote 36 on my sheet at the beginning of the game," the Cincinnati coach said, referring the yard line the ball would need to be snapped from. https://www.cheappiratesjerseys.us/ . LOUIS -- The New Orleans Saints looked like a team playing out the string. Pittsburgh Pirates Gear . With the first unit struggling of late and Amir Johnson - one of the teams iron men - hobbling on an injured right ankle, Patterson knew he could get the nod in a challenging matchup against one of the leagues up and coming players at his position. Pirates Jerseys China . -- On the field, it was business as usual for Jameis Winston and No. STOCKHOLM, Sweden -- Canada was eliminated in the quarter-finals of the IIHF World Championship for a fourth straight year with a 3-2 shootout loss to host Sweden on Thursday. Fredrik Pettersson scored the winner in the fourth round of the shootout as Sweden moved on to a semifinal meeting with archrival Finland. "Its the worst feeling obviously," said Canada goaltender Mike Smith. "Every time we put the Canada sweater on you are expected to win. This is tough to take." Trailing 1-0, Nicklas Danielsson scored a pair of power-play goals in the third period to give the hosts a 2-1 lead. Canadas Claude Giroux tied the game just over a minute after Danielssons second goal. Steven Stamkos of the Tampa Bay Lightning scored a second-period power-play goal. Smith of the Phoenix Coyotes stopped 30 shots in the loss, while Jhonas Enroth of the Buffalo Sabres made 39 saves for the win. "Third period, we werent on top of them as much as we could be," Canada coach Lindy Ruff said. "Their defending was a lot better. They made sure they had people back and didnt get caught through the neutral zone. "Both teams defended well through the neutral zone and it made it an offensive or defensive zone game. In the end it turned into a special teams game." Jacob Markstrom made a pair of saves in overtime while Enroth dealt with an equipment issue. Canada extended its run of quarter-final losses in this tournament to four straight years. Canada last advanced to the semifinals in 2009 en route to a silver medal with Ruff as coach. "It doesnt get any easier," said Canada forward Matt Duchene, who has been in the lineup for three of those losses. "Third time losing for me losing in this game and the fourth time for a couple of other guys. It hurts. "I cant believe we lost. I thought we had the team to do it this year. It just shows you one game, anyone can win. We dont like that penalty shot rule, thats for sure. It sucks we couldnt keep playing overtime." In other quarter-finals, Switzerland extended its unbeaten run in the tournament to eight wins with a 2-1 win over the Czech Republic. Theyll face the United States, an 8-3 winner in Helsinki over a Russian team that had Alex Ovechkin in the lineup, in Saturdays semifinal. Finland edged Slovakia 4-3 in Helsinkis other quarter-final. The semifinals and Sundays bronze- and gold-medal games are in Stockholm. Canada had beaten the host country 3-0 in the preliminary round, but that was before the arrival of Swedish forwards Henrik and Daniel Sedin and defenceman Alex Edler from the Vancouver Canucks. The Swedes had more swagger in their step with the additions, although theyd been heaping the pressure on Canada by calling them the favourite to win. Canada lost captain Eric Staal to a knee-on-knee collision with Edler in Swedens zone at 15:52 of the first period. The Carolina Hurricanes forward went down writhing in pain and clutching his right knee. He needed assistance off the ice and did not return. Edler was served a major and a game misconduct and threw his stick like a harpoon when he left the ice. Ruff said he didnt have an update on Staals status, but te captain walked to the team bus on crutches and with a brace on his knee. "It had some impact because there was a lot of shuffling going on, Ruff said.dddddddddddd "Still we had our opportunities. One of the turning points was we built a 1-0 lead and if Steve scores on the breakaway, it might have given us a little bit of cushion. We didnt. We let them hang around." Giroux atoned for his cross-checking penalty that allowed Danielsson to push Sweden up 2-1 at 9:35 of the third period by evening the game at 10:50. Andrew Ladds hard check along the boards knocked the puck loose towards the net. The Winnipeg Jets forward retrieved it and fed Giroux from behind the goal-line. Danielsson scored power-play goals on a pair of slapshots through traffic from just inside the blue-line in the third period. His second beat Smith between the pads and the other the eluded Canadians glove. Canadian defenceman Dan Hamhuis was serving a delay of game minor on Danielssons first goal of the period. Canada appeared to go up 2-0 at the end of the second period on a last-second shot from recent addition P.K. Subban, but referees determined via video review that time expired before the puck crossed the goal-line. "Thats why we have the instant replay. It wasnt a goal obviously I guess," Subban said. "I thought we did enough things to win this game today. I think what it comes down to is we had opportunities early in the game to put them away. We didnt capitalize." Canada scored first with power-play goal from Stamkos 45 seconds into the second period. Ladd teed up defenceman Stephane Robidas at the blue-line and Stamkos changed speed on the puck with a re-direct to slide it past Enroths pad. Smith and Enroth traded showy saves in the second period. Enroth stopped an all-alone Stamkos charging in off a stretch pass from Claude Giroux. Smith quickly covered the gap on a Johan Frannson from the faceoff circle. While Canada didnt score again in the second period, their puck management improved over the first period. They supported each other better in the defensive and neutral zones and outshot the host country 16-11 in that period. Smiths quick pad off an Oscar Lindberg re-direct early in the first period kept the Swedes off the scoreboard. Simon Hjalmarsson missed getting the puck to Gabriel Landeskog on an odd-man midway through the period. The man advantage during the Edler first-period major was negated when Andrew Ladd took a hooking major halfway through the five minutes. Canada got another 20 seconds out of that major to start the second period with an extra attacker and Stamkos made good on it. Subban, a defenceman with the Montreal Canadiens, played his first game of the tournament after his arrival Tuesday and was paired with Jay Harrison. Canada added two defenceman after the start of the tournament to bring its blue-line total to nine players. Hamhuis arrived Saturday with his Swedish Canuck teammates. Canada brought 12 forwards, so eight defencemen played Thursday. T.J. Brodie of the Calgary Flames was scratched. Notes: Switzerland, coached by Sean Simpson of Brampton, Ont., will play in the semifinal for the first time since 1998 . . . St. Louis Blues rookie forward Jaden Schwartz joined the Canadian team the previous day as insurance against injury up front. ' ' '