HOUSTON -- The Astros solid pitching needed a little help against the Los Angeles Angels. Houstons offence was able to provide that support. Jose Altuve and George Springer drove in two runs each during Houstons four-run eighth inning as the Astros pulled away for an 8-5 win Thursday night. Altuve had two hits, including a two-run double in the eighth, and Springer finished with three RBIs for the Astros, who drew eight walks. Dexter Fowler also had two hits and went 6 for 11 in the three-game series. "Its not a secret that we have been playing better baseball lately," Altuve said. "The hitters are doing their job, the pitchers have been doing tremendous, we have been playing really good defence. It seems like we are putting everything together, going out there and playing hard and we are winning the games." Altuve and Springer both came through with two outs in the eighth. "It was the game," Springer said of the pair of two-run hits. "To able to score four in the bottom of the eighth was deflating. Two-out RBIs at any stage of the game are clutch. Teams that can drive guys in with two outs are great teams." Brad Peacock (2-4) allowed three runs and six hits with a strikeout in five innings. Over his last three starts, Peacock has given up four runs in 17 2-3 innings. "I was battling all night," Peacock said. "I didnt really have anything. The bullpen picked me up tonight. The hitters picked me up, too. I was just battling all night. I couldnt find my fastball the first couple innings. I kind of settled down in the third, but I have to do a better job of commanding my fastball and my off-speed." Chad Qualls quieted an Angels rally in the ninth for his sixth save. The Houston bullpen threw four innings, allowing just the two runs in the ninth. "The bullpen did a tremendous job," Houston manager Bo Porter said. "I felt like Peacock, he really struggled through five and once we got him out there in the fifth inning with the pitch count close to 90 we felt like turning it over to our bullpen at the time, we had the matchups that we wanted." Mike Trout had two hits, including a double and a triple, and Chris Iannetta had three hits for the Angels, who have lost five of their last six games. Trout was the designated hitter after missing three of the last four games with back problems. He started in the opening game of this series, but left in the second inning because of his back. Trout said he felt good and expected to return to the field Friday. "It never tightened up, nothing," Trout said. "I didnt feel really anything. I stretched it really well between at-bats but I think running around in centre field will keep it loose, too." After Houstons four-run eighth put it ahead 8-3, Erick Aybar drew a bases loaded walk and Collin Cowgill grounded into a fielders choice to pull the Angels within three. Qualls then struck out Trout and got Albert Pujols to pop up to first to end the game. Four of the eight walks issued by the Angels came in the eighth by Cam Bedrosian, who was called up from Double-A earlier this week, setting up Altuve and Springers hits. "Weve got some power arms down there and theres going to be some walks occasionally," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "Sometimes that goes with the territory. I think weve gotten better. We just -- some things got away from us tonight. "We walked what eight runners tonight? Thats a lot of runners to put on base." Tyler Skaggs (4-4) allowed four runs and six hits with four strikeouts in five innings while losing his third straight start. "Of course its frustrating," Skaggs said. "They had some good at-bats tonight. They put the ball in play and things happen when you put the ball in play. You never know. The infield singles in the first inning were definitely frustrating." Los Angeles trailed by three before Aybars RBI single and Trouts run-scoring double made it 4-3 in the fifth. Houston took the lead with a three-run fourth. Robbie Grossman drove in a run on a squeeze bunt. Carlos Corporan and Fowler followed with RBI singles to make it 4-1. The Angels went ahead 1-0 in the top of the first on Pujols sacrifice fly. Springer had a sacrifice fly of his own to tie it in the bottom of the inning. NOTES: The Angels worked out Trout in the afternoon before putting him back in the lineup. Scioscia said Trout felt good swinging in the cage and that he expects him to play in the field Friday. ... Houston SS Jonathan Villar was out of the starting lineup for a second straight game on Thursday after being hit on the right elbow by a pitch on Tuesday night. However, he pinch-ran in the eighth. Manager Bo Porter said he was feeling better on Thursday and is day to day. ... Los Angeles OF Raul Ibanez broke an 0-for-16 slump with a single in the sixth inning. ... Houston selected 17-year old left-handed pitcher Brady Aiken with the first overall pick in Thursdays MLB draft. Wholesale Air Force 1 From China . Ashley Wagner will skate in the womens short program for a U.S. team thats in seventh place. Davis and White won the silver medal at the Vancouver Games and are two-time world champions. Wholesale Air Force 1 . LOUIS - The St. http://www.airforce1cheap.com/. Thats what he did over the past 2 1/2 years with the Washington Wizards. Wittmans approach helped turn the Wizards from pushover to playoff winners. Authentic Nike Air Force 1 Wholesale .75 million contract for the 2014 season and avoided arbitration. The team announced the agreement on Tuesday. Wholesale Air Force 1 Shoes .C. -- The RBC Cups semifinal participants were decided by a pair of overtime games.PRETORIA, South Africa - Children chatter about the Oscar Pistorius murder trial at South African schools, startling parents with details about how the athlete fatally shot his girlfriend. Big audiences in South Africa are watching a 24-hour television channel dedicated to coverage of the sensational trial. Turns of phrase from the courtroom — the defence lawyers "I put it to you" challenge to prosecution witnesses — are creeping into popular culture. The rise and fall of the double-amputee runner, who competed in the London Olympics in 2012 and then killed model Reeva Steenkamp less than a year after that inspirational triumph, is a consuming saga for South Africans that has drawn sheepish comparisons to reality television shows. The more people hear, the hungrier they are for more. Was Oscar on his stumps or wearing prosthetic limbs when he battered the toilet door with a cricket bat? Does he scream like a woman, as the defence suggests, or did neighbours indeed hear a womans screams on the night of the killing? Will apparent missteps by police investigators muddy the prosecutions case? Did Pistorius vomit during graphic testimony about Steenkamps wounds because of anguish, or was he trying to curry sympathy with the impassive judge? Some people turn up their noses at the spectacle, then dive into television or social media to soak up the latest, often extraordinary revelations. The parade of witnesses, some shown in the televised proceedings and some concealed from TV viewers to respect their privacy, gives a glimpse into rich, diverse, flawed and accomplished lives, swept into a single narrative from previously anonymous routines. Prof. Gert Saayman, the pathologist, described Steenkamps wounds and the general impact of gunshots on flesh and bone in metaphor-studded monologues so precise and structured that they were almost lyrical, the macabre contents notwithstanding. Here was a man, clinical and courtly, who had conducted between 10,000 and 15,000 autopsies over the decades. "Death is effectively a process rather than an event, and may take some minutes for it to come to its conclusion at a physiological level," he said. Saayman was followed by witness Darren Fresco, who dropped an expletive while recounting alleged gunplay involving Pistorius, his onetime friend, in the months before the runner shot his girlfriend. Fresco seemed miffed at the defences suggestion that he was wearing tracksuit ppants in the middle of summer, rather than shorts as he claims, during a 2012 incident in which a gun went off in a Johannesburg restaurant.dddddddddddd "If Its got Wheels or a Skirt its Gonna Cost You Money," reads the caption on Frescos Twitter feed. Fast-living image aside, he aptly summarized the intense media coverage, saying it seemed to be everywhere: "It doesnt matter where you look, where you turn, where you go, what you listen to, what you watch." Later came the police investigators, cast by defence lawyer Barry Roux as bumblers reminiscent of the "Keystone Cops" characters from the old silent movies. Col. Johannes Vermeulen squatted awkwardly as he sought to show that Pistorius was not wearing prostheses when he hit the toilet door with a cricket bat, based on the policemans analysis of marks in the wood. "Im not standing on my knees when Im washing the dishes," Vermeulen said to emphasize his point. "Maybe if youre scared of your wife, you can do that," Roux replied, briefly lightening the sombre mood. Pistorius said he hit the door with the bat after realizing he had shot Steenkamp by mistake, fearing she was an intruder. Prosecutors say he killed her after an argument. South Africans are increasingly captivated by Rouxs relentless cross-examination. A producer at the Highveld Stereo radio station recorded a parody rap song. Lyrics include: "I put it to you/that it is true/everything you say/I will misconstrue/Im Barry Roux/And I put it to you/Ten times in a row/Just to confuse you." The 2-week-old trial is expected to run into April. One commentator said it is even interfering with South African democracy ahead of elections on May 7. "The trial will peak at the same time as the election campaign swings into high gear, which means political parties will have to take extraordinary measures to hold the voters attention," Ranjeni Munusamy wrote in the Daily Maverick, an online news outlet. The role of Jaco van Vuuren, the court sketch artist, seems quaint alongside all the high-tech scrutiny. Van Vuuren, who knew Pistorius before the killing, said it was emotionally difficult at first. "I said to him before this court session that Im not there to judge him. Im just there to do my job," van Vuuren told South Africas Eyewitness News. "He understands it. And the first day, he just hugged me and asked me for coffee." ' ' '