HOUSTON (Interstat) — Tatsuya Imai pitched six strong innings and Isaac Paredes delivered a three-run home run as the Houston Astros defeated the Miami Marlins 5-3 on Tuesday night at Daikin Park before an announced crowd of 28,748.

The game took 2 hours, 31 minutes.

Imai allowed four hits and one earned run while striking out eight to improve to 6-4 on the season. He walked two. The right-hander retired the side in order in the first, third and sixth innings and allowed only one runner to reach scoring position until the fifth.

Josh Hader earned his 11th save by working a scoreless ninth inning, allowing one hit and striking out one.

Tyler Phillips took the loss for Miami, falling to 2-5. Phillips surrendered four runs on five hits over four innings, walking two and striking out three.

The Marlins, who entered the game with a 52-49 record, saw their losing streak reach three games. The Astros improved to 49-54.

Houston struck first in the bottom of the first inning. Jeremy Peña led off with a line-drive home run to left-center field, his eighth of the season, after an umpire review overturned the initial call. Yordan Alvarez followed with a single, but Jose Altuve grounded into a double play to end the inning.

The Astros extended their lead in the second. LaMonte Wade Jr. drew a walk, and Christian Walker singled to put runners at first and second. Taylor Trammell lined out to right, but Lucas Spence doubled down the right-field line, scoring Wade and moving Walker to third. Christian Vázquez and Peña struck out to strand Walker.

Miami got on the board in the fifth. Otto Lopez drew a walk, and Kyle Stowers doubled to center field, scoring Lopez to cut the deficit to 2-1. Imai struck out Heriberto Hernández to end the inning.

The pivotal moment came in the bottom of the fifth. With one out, Christian Vázquez reached on a throwing error by third baseman Javier Sanoja. Peña grounded into a forceout, but Alvarez struck out on a wild pitch by reliever Tyler Zuber, allowing Peña to advance to third and Alvarez to reach first. Paredes then launched a 1-0 pitch over the left-field wall for his 13th home run of the season, scoring Peña, Alvarez and himself to give Houston a 5-1 lead.

Miami answered in the seventh. Sanoja singled and Joe Mack homered to right-center field, his ninth of the season, cutting the deficit to 5-3. The Marlins then loaded the bases on a double by Hernández, but Xavier Edwards struck out on a foul tip to end the threat.

The Marlins mounted a final rally in the ninth against Hader. Sanoja led off with a ground-rule double down the right-field line. Joe Mack struck out looking. Otto Lopez grounded out to shortstop, moving Sanoja to third, but Kyle Stowers popped out to third baseman Paredes to end the game.

Houston’s bullpen combined for three innings of relief. AJ Blubaugh allowed two runs on three hits while striking out three in the seventh. Bennett Sousa pitched a perfect eighth inning with one strikeout.

Miami’s offense managed eight hits, matching Houston’s total. Stowers and Mack each had two hits for the Marlins. For the Astros, Paredes went 2-for-4 with a home run and three RBIs. Spence went 1-for-3 with a double and an RBI. Taylor Trammell singled in four at-bats. Altuve and Vázquez each went 0-for-4.

The game featured a rare triple play in the bottom of the eighth. With Yordan Alvarez on second and Paredes on first after back-to-back singles, Altuve grounded to third baseman Leo Jiménez, who stepped on the bag for the first out, threw to Xavier Edwards at second for the second out, and Edwards relayed to Kyle Stowers at first to complete the triple play.

Miami fell to 6-9 in their last 15 games. The Astros snapped a four-game losing streak.

The Marlins and Astros conclude their two-game series Wednesday night before Miami returns home to face San Diego. Houston travels to Chicago to face the White Sox on Friday.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of Miami Marlins 4, Houston Astros 3. Interstat’s ELO system gave Houston a 51.00 percent probability to win. Houston was installed as a pregame favorite with a spread of minus 1.5. The total score of eight went over the over-under line of 8.5.