Kansas City’s Luke Hochevar endured some good-natured ribbing from his teammates after pitching one of his best games of the season.

They found it funny that he was so happy about getting his first major league hit.

Hochevar pitched into the eighth inning, two relievers completed the shutout, and Billy Butler hit a solo home run to lead the Royals to a 2-0 win over the Houston Astros on Tuesday night.

One player yelled at reporters from the shower area in the clubhouse to make sure to ask him about his second-inning single. Jeff Francoeur and Butler continued to joke about it when asked about his pitching.

“Who cares about his outing, he got his first hit,” they both said one after another while chuckling.

Hochevar entered the game with nine strikeouts in 13 at-bats since 2008.

“It’s been a long time coming,” he said. “It hasn’t been pretty at all.”

Hochevar earned his first victory since May 12. He had four losses and two no-decisions since his previous win.

Kansas City manager Ned Yost raved about his work on the mound.

“That was a tremendous ball game by Luke Hochevar,” Yost said. “He’s getting back to who he is. His three core pitches, four-seam fastball, curveball, changeup are very effective together in combination.”

Hochevar (4-7) pitched no-hit ball into the fifth inning and allowed five hits and struck out six in a season-high 7 2/3 innings.

“I wish we could have got him through it,” Yost said of the eighth inning. “But I can’t live with myself if he gives up the lead in the eighth inning with our pen.”

Hochevar said he’s made some adjustments since the beginning of the season that are starting to come together for him.

“I think it helps more changing speeds, and I’m not so one-dimensional,” he said. “Changing speeds more has helped a lot.”

Aaron Crow and closer Jonathan Broxton combined to allow no hits in the last 1 1/3 innings to complete Kansas City’s seventh shutout this season. Broxton earned his 17th save.

Houston starter Wandy Rodriguez (6-5) yielded six hits and two runs in seven innings.

Butler put Kansas City up 1-0 with his two-out homer to the Crawford Boxes in left field in the first inning.

Yuniesky Betancourt singled to start the third, and scored on Alcides Escobar’s two-out single that rolled between Jed Lowrie and Jose Altuve and into the outfield to make it 2-0.

Rodriguez settled down after the first three innings and allowed just one hit in the next four innings. He was helped by his defense in the sixth when Justin Maxwell made a leaping catch at the wall in left field to rob Escobar of a hit.

“We need to find that rhythm right away,” Houston manager Brad Mills said of Rodriguez. “He couldn’t get in that rhythm (early on). When he got it, you saw how good he was.”

Rodriguez was replaced by Brandon Lyon, who allowed two hits in 1 1/3 innings.

Lowrie walked with two outs in the eighth inning before a single by Carlos Lee chased Hochevar. Lowrie reached third on the hit, which bounced off the wall in left field, and Lee advanced to second on an error by Alex Gordon.

Crow replaced Hochevar and struck out Justin Maxwell to end the inning.

Hochevar didn’t allow a hit until Chris Johnson’s one-out single in the fifth inning, which broke an 0-for-13 skid by the third baseman. Hochevar walked Lee and plunked Brian Bogusevic in the second before walking Rodriguez in the third.

“The breaking ball that Hochevar had, it was pretty good,” Mills said. “We had trouble making adjustments, as you obviously saw.”

Jason Castro singled after Johnson’s single before Rodriguez was out when Mike Moustakas dived to catch his pop bunt. Hochevar retired Jordan Schafer to end Houston’s threat.

Lowrie drew a walk with one out in the sixth, and Lee doubled down the right field line, but Hochevar escaped trouble again when he struck out Maxwell and Bogusevic.

— Associated Press —

It was a big moment for Houston’s Brian Bixler when he hit his first career home run in the first inning on Monday night.

Perhaps more important than that shot, though, was his two-run double in the eighth inning that helped pad Houston’s lead and allowed the Astros to hold on for a 9-7 win after a late rally by Kansas City.

Bixler drove in a career-high three runs on three hits and Justin Maxwell and Brian Bogusevic also homered for the Astros.

“It was a good way to start the day off,” Bixler said of his homer. “I was happy to continue that and put it together for the whole day. So it worked out well.”

J.A. Happ (5-7) yielded four hits and two runs in 6-plus innings to break a four-game losing streak. It was his first start since allowing 11 hits and eight runs — both career highs — in Houston’s 10-0 loss to San Francisco in which Matt Cain threw a perfect game.

Maxwell hit a two-run homer after Bogusevic’s solo shot in Houston’s five-run eighth inning.

Jonathan Sanchez (1-3) allowed six hits and four runs in six innings in his second start since a month-long stint on the disabled list with tendinitis in his left biceps.

Things got dicey for the Astros in the ninth with a tough outing by closer Brett Myers, who allowed four consecutive singles with one out to make it 9-3. The Royals got another run on a sacrifice fly by pinch-hitter Mitch Maier and Yuniesky Betancourt’s bases-loaded single scored two more.

Billy Butler had an RBI single to get Kansas City within 9-7 and bring loud boos from the crowd. The eighth hit of the inning, a single by Jeff Francoeur, chased Myers, bringing in Xavier Cedeno, who retired Mike Moustakas to get his first career save.

“It paid off today,” Bixler said of adding runs late. “It just kind of showed you that especially at this level, guys don’t give in and things happen. I’m glad we were able to do that in the eighth and hold onto it for J.A. Happ.”

Houston manager Brad Mills took the blame for Myers’ struggles.

“We’d like to get him out there a little more often so he could be a little crisper,” he said of Myers, who last pitched Thursday. “In his defense he’s been great all year, he’s going to continue to be great, it was just a situation where he hadn’t been out there in a while and that’s my fault.”

Bixler’s solo homer came on a shot to the Crawford Boxes in left field that tied it 1-1 in the first. Maxwell walked and later scored from first on an error by Sanchez when he badly missed a throw to first base on a pickoff attempt to make it 2-1.

Sanchez plunked Chris Johnson to start Houston’s fourth inning. Sanchez’s second botched pickoff attempt of the game allowed Johnson to advance to third, and he scored on a one-out single by Chris Snyder to make it 3-1.

After Johnson scored in the fourth, Jose Altuve was hit by a pitch with two outs before a single by Bixler loaded the bases. Maxwell walked to make it 4-1, but Sanchez retired Carlos Lee.

“Sanchez did all right,” Kansas City manager Ned Yost said. “He kept us in the game. The two pickoff throws hurt him. The two-out walk with the bases loaded hurt him.”

Betancourt tripled with one out in the first and scored on a two-out single by Francoeur to put Kansas City up 1-0.

Happ retired 13 of the next 14 batters before Alex Gordon doubled to start the sixth. Gordon advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on a groundout by Butler to cut the lead to 4-2.

“He rebounded after the first inning, starting throwing some strikes and making pitches a little bit better,” Mills said of Happ. “It was sure nice to see him work as late as he did into the game.”

Bogusevic’s first-pitch homer in the eighth inning came off reliever Louis Coleman, who was recalled from Triple-A Omaha on Monday to help reinforce a bullpen that pitched nine innings in a 15-inning win over St. Louis on Sunday.

“We were strapped in the ‘pen,” Yost said. “We didn’t have the ability to match up tonight. We had to go as far as we could with Sanchez.”

Snyder walked and Altuve singled before Bixler sent them both home on a double to make it 7-2. Maxwell’s eighth homer of the season wrapped up Houston’s scoring.

— Associated Press —