When I was in the Army, I had a drill instructor that gave us some of the best advice one could ever receive.

“Embrace adversity. It will make you appreciate life,” he said.

I am pretty sure that Astros manager Dusty Baker has heard those words spoken as well when he was in the Marines. Houston (15-10) overcame another injury to its pitching staff to defeat the Colorado Rockies (13-10) on Thursday to extend their winning streak to eight games.

Houston lost reliever Josh James in the bottom of the sixth inning with a hip injury that was caused when he fielded a hit just shy of the mound for the final out of the inning. He was helped off the field by Carlos Correa and a member of the training staff. That along with third baseman Alex Bregman being added to the 10-day injured list with a hamstring injury and the season ending knee surgery to DH Yordan Alvarez announced Wednesday morning made the win all the sweeter.

“We’re losing some key guys and we are still getting the win,” said Abraham Toro who is replacing Bregman in the lineup. “That just shows the depth of this team.”

The Astros used multiple five run innings to defeat the Rockies 10-8. They were led again by hot-hitting outfielder Kyle Tucker who added another triple to finish the series with three. He is starting to settle in and become the player Houston thought he would be when they used the fifth overall pick in the 2015 MLB Draft.

Tucker was the first Astros player with three or more triples over two games since Omar Moreno who also had three, did it 7/14-15/83. On Wednesday, Tucker became the first player in Astros history with two triples and a HR in one game.

A sight that made Astros fans happy was the return of Jose Altuve’s bat. The former American League MVP had two-hits in the game to go along with the two he had the previous night bringing his total to four hits and two RBI’s for the series.

"He was aggressive,” said Baker about Altuve’s at-bats. “That was a big 3-0 (pitch count) double he hit to drive in two runs. He's getting two hits a day since we moved him back into that second spot. Two hits a day for a week will cure all.”

Starting pitcher Cristian Javier had a bit of a rough outing at Coors Field lasting only 3 2/3 innings giving up three earned runs (two off of homers) on seven hits.

“I just have to do the best that I can and take it one day at a time,” Javier said after the game. “Things didn’t go the way I wanted them too, but it’s just a matter of maintaining my focus.”

Brooks Raley (1-0) got the win after Ryan Pressly earned his third save by shutting the door on the Rockies. But that final out of the game had a bit of a “Flair” to it. Outfielder Josh Reddick made a fantastic diving catch to rob Rockies Trevor Story of a guaranteed double to end the game. After the catch Reddick was full of emotions like his favorite former pro wrestler “Nature Boy” Rick Flair.

“The ball was slicing back towards him,” said Baker. “I know he had a chance and I just wanted him to hold onto the ball when he hit the ground. That was the hardest part of it. He looked like Superman on that one. That was a big catch, because I’ve seen them come back here many, many times.”

Houston travels to San Diego on Friday for a three-game series against the red-hot Padres.