HOUSTON -- During Houstons terrible start to the season both Carlos Gomez and Luis Valbuena struggled.The pair has turned things around since then and its helped the Astros do the same.Gomez had three RBI and finished a home run shy of the cycle and Valbuena hit a tiebreaking two-run homer in the eighth inning to help the Astros sweep the Seattle Mariners with a 9-8 victory Wednesday night.Manager A.J. Hinch thinks his team feeds off Gomezs energy.He had a spectacular night, Hinch said. He showed off a lot of his strengths. His athleticism, I thought he played good on defense, had a nice running catch in left-center. He doesnt have an off button ... he played a really complete game and were a completely different team when hes doing his thing.The game was tied at 7 with one on and one out when Valbuena launched a towering shot off Edwin Diaz (0-2) to the second deck in right field for his second straight game with a homer.All of his 11 homers have come since May 7.His powers always been there; hes got huge power to the pull side but a lot of that comes with getting a good pitch to hit and doing damage when he does get that pitch, Hinch said.Ken Giles (1-3) struck out two in a scoreless eighth for the win. Luke Gregerson allowed an RBI double to Robinson Cano with one out in the ninth before striking out Dae-Ho Lee with the bases loaded for his 14th save.The sweep moves Houston into sole possession of second place in the AL West behind Texas.I dont think we played particularly well here, Seattle manager Scott Servais said. They did. They played better than we did, at the end of the day thats what happens. For whatever reason after finishing up strong on the homestand just didnt carry it over down here.Houston led by five runs early before Cano, Kyle Seager and Lee all homered in the fourth inning to cut the lead 5-4. The Astros stretched the lead to 7-4 with a two-run sixth before a three-run homer by Seth Smith tied it in the seventh.Evan Gattis added a solo homer for Houston and Carlos Correa had two hits and an RBI.Seattle had runners on first and second with one out in the seventh when Smith connected off Michael Feliz to tie it at 7-7.It was a tough night for both starters. Houstons Mike Fiers allowed five hits and four runs in 3 1/3 innings.Seattles Wade LeBlanc also lasted 3 1/3 innings and allowed six hits and five runs -- four earned.Correa had an RBI double in the first and Gomez pushed the lead to 3-0 when he sent two runners home with a double later in the inning.Gattis opened Houstons second inning with his home run to make it 4-0.Gomez hit a triple, which landed on Tals Hill in center field, with two outs in the third to extend the lead to 5-0.Fiers had allowed just one hit when Cano sent the second pitch of the fourth inning into the seats in right field for his 20th homer to cut the lead to 5-1. Its the seventh season with 20 homers for Cano, making him the sixth second baseman in major league history to hit at least 20 homers in seven seasons.A walk by Nelson Cruz came next before Seager homered into the second deck in right field to make it 5-3.After a short coaching visit to the mound, Lee gave the Mariners back-to-back homers for the third time this season with his shot, which also came with two strikes, to get Seattle within one.TRAINERS ROOMMariners: RHP Felix Hernandez felt good after throwing 45 pitches in a simulated game Wednesday and will make a rehabilitation start for Class-A Everett on Sunday. If that goes well hell throw at Triple-A Tacoma on July 15 and return to Seattles rotation on July 20. ... RHP Taijuan Walker was placed on the DL on Wednesday with tendinitis his right foot. Servais said he will visit a specialist soon and theyll determine a plan for his recovery.UP NEXTMariners: James Paxton (2-3, 4.24) will start for the Mariners on Thursday when they begin a four-game series at Kansas City. Paxton allowed nine hits and four runs in 5 2/3 innings in a 12-6 win over Baltimore on Saturday.Astros: Doug Fister (8-5, 3.66) is scheduled to start for the Astros when they open a four-game series against Oakland. Fister looks to get back on track after dropping two straight following a seven-game winning streak. Matt Dumba Jersey . -- Nathan Pancel scored twice as the Sudbury Wolves defeated the North Bay Battalion 4-2 on Saturday in Ontario Hockey League action. Eric Staal Jersey . -- Ohio States Urban Meyer has never had any issue acclimating to the biggest stages in college football. http://www.authenticwildpro.com/Jason-zucker-wild-jersey/ .S. Open champion Justin Rose birdied the first hole with a blind shot he hit to a foot of the pin, and he stayed in front Tuesday until he completed a 4-under 67 for a two-shot lead over Jason Dufner in PGA Grand Slam of Golf. J.T. Brown Wild Jersey . -- There were a lot of firsts for the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday night. Jared Spurgeon Wild Jersey . - Raiders general manager Reggie McKenzie never doubted he would bring back coach Dennis Allen for a third year despite back-to-back 4-12 records. SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- While the Sacramento Kings enjoy a modest two-game winning streak, the Oklahoma City Thunder are wondering what happened the past two weeks.DeMarcus Cousins had 36 points and 13 rebounds, leading the Kings to a 116-101 victory over the slumping Thunder on Wednesday night.The Kings had a 36-point third quarter and gradually pulled away in the fourth in dealing the Thunder their third straight loss and seventh in nine games. The Thunder opened the season with a 6-1 record,Weve got to be ready to play. Thats plain and simple. Figure it out, Russell Westbrook said.Going to a smaller lineup the last two games, it appears the Kings may have figured something. But theyre still making sure their All-Star center gets plenty of touches.Cousins made three 3-pointers, hit 14 of 28 shots and proved a handful for the Thunder to contain.DeMarcus is one of the best, if not the best center in the game, teammate Kosta Koufos said. He can do it all, shoot the 3, post up, put it on the floor. You name it, he can do it.Cousins received considerable help, especially in the second half from Darren Collison and Rudy Gay. Gay said he fought through a stomach virus in scoring 15 of his 17 points in the final two quarters.Collison scored 10 of his season-high 21 points in the fourth quarter and added six assists. Both Gay and Collison connected on three 3-pointers after intermission. The Kings had 12 3-pointers in evening their home record at 4-4.I think it was just finding our spots (in the second half), Gay said. I dont know, maybe I was more aggressive. I know Darren was more aggressive, I can tell you that. We were stagnant in the first half. I felt we pushed through in the second half.Westbrook nearly had his sixth triple-double of the season, getting 31 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists. Victor Oladipo made three 3-pointers and scored 18 points.Its not necessarily one player. We just got to keep working, Thunder coach Billy Donovan said. I thinkk we got a great group of guys in the locker room that are trying and working.dddddddddddd We just got to continually understand the importance of a lot of the little things in the course of 48 minutes.Koufos led the productive Sacramento reserves with nine points and 10 rebounds. Ben McLemore scored all nine of his points during a productive first-half stretch and Ty Lawson added eight and four assists.I thought our bench in the first half was fantastic, Kings coach Dave Joerger said. They picked up the pace, the ball was moving, slinging around the floor. Its fun to play (like that.)Cousins scored on a variety of shots in the third quarter and had 13 points in helping Sacramento build its lead to 87-65 heading into the fourth.TIP-INSThunder: Westbrook made all 11 of 12 free throws and had 20 points in the opening half. ... The Thunder are 2-4 on the road. .. Oklahoma City committed only nine turnovers, but shot 42 percent.Kings: The Kings went to Cousins early and he responded with 16 first-quarter points. .. Gay, the Kings second-leading scorer, didnt have a basket until making a 3-pointer early in the third quarter.RAPTORS PROTEST KINGS VICTORYThe Toronto Raptors filed a protest with the league office regarding a controversial 3-point shot that was disallowed following a video replay in Sundays loss to the Kings. The shot by Terrance Ross would have sent the game into overtime.Ive been through it before. There are advantages and disadvantages of the replay system, Joerger said. But at the end of the day what its there for is to get it right. You can argue one side or the other, but whatever side youre on, whether it benefits you or it doesnt benefits you, the biggest thing is that our league can get it right.UP NEXTThunder: Conclude three-game road trip Friday at Denver.Kings: Host James Harden-led Houston on Friday. ' ' '