Streak ends

C.J. Cron homered early and Wilson Ramos hit a tiebreaking RBI single in the eighth inning to lift the Tampa Bay Rays to a 2-1 victory over the Houston Astros on Tuesday night, snapping the Astros’ 12-game winning streak.

HOUSTON — C.J. Cron homered early and Wilson Ramos hit a tiebreaking RBI single in the eighth inning to lift the Tampa Bay Rays to a 2-1 victory Tuesday night to snap a 12-game winning streak by the Houston Astros.

Blake Snell (9-4) allowed 3 hits and 1 run in 7 innings, but had to pitch around a career-high 7 walks for his fifth consecutive victory. Sergio Romo pitched for the third game in a row, taking over with one out in the ninth and allowing one hit for his third save a night after blowing the save in Houston’s 5-4 victory.

Houston leads Seattle in the American League West by two games. The Mariners lost to the Yankees 7-2 on Tuesday.

Matt Duffy doubled to start the eighth and advanced to third on a groundout by Jake Bauers. The Rays took a 2-1 lead when the single by Ramos sailed just over the head of a leaping Yuli Gurriel and into left field to allow Duffy to score.

Cron snapped a career-long 0-for-23 slump with a home run with one out in the second inning to give Tampa Bay a 1-0 lead. It was the first hit since June 12 for Cron, a former Arkansas Traveler who struck out 18 times during his hitless streak.

The Astros went 1 for 6 with runners in scoring position to come up one victory shy of setting the franchise record for longest winning streak in franchise history.

Justin Verlander yielded 6 hits and 1 run while fanning 10 in 62/3 innings. Hector Rondon (1-2) took the loss by allowing two hits and one run in one inning.

Adeiny Hechavarria doubled

with two outs in the seventh inning to chase Verlander. Hector Rondon took over and retired Kevin Kiermaier to end the inning. Kiermaier went 0 for 5 in his return after sitting out since April 15 after tearing a ligament in his right thumb which required surgery.