Houston ? After what happened in his first start this season, Collin McHugh felt much better when he got through the first inning on Monday night.

“I was focused on getting through that first inning today,” McHugh said. “Once we got through that it was just kind of just go after them the rest of the game.”

McHugh bounced back from the shortest start of his career by pitching seven scoreless innings and Colby Rasmus hit a two-run homer as the Houston Astros won their home opener over the Kansas City Royals, 8-2.

McHugh (1-1) allowed eight hits and struck out four in his first start since he allowed six runs and walked two in one-third of an inning of a 16-6 loss to the New York Yankees.

Houston manager A.J. Hinch didn’t have any doubt that McHugh would put his bad outing behind him.

“He was exceptional, and he pitched with a purpose tonight,” Hinch said. “I am glad he made the adjustment from being a careful pitcher dancing around the strike zone to attacking them with all of his pitches. He did a good job of setting the tone for our team and I thought it was important that we fed off that as a team.”

Carlos Correa had three hits and two RBIs, Jose Altuve had three hits, and rookie Tyler White, who was named the American League player of the week earlier in the day, added a pair of hits for his fourth multi-hit game this year.

Chris Young (0-2) allowed nine hits and six runs in 42/3 innings. The Astros jumped on him early and were up by a run in the first after an RBI double by Correa when Rasmus launched a towering shot to the second deck in right field to make it 3-0.

“I feel bad digging the team into a hole like that, having to play from behind,” Young said. “But it’s a tough lineup.”

Luis Valbuena had an RBI double, Jason Castro drove in a run with a triple and Altuve had a run-scoring single in the fourth to push the lead to 6-0.