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ST. Kelley OHara Jersey . PETERSBURG, Fla. -- The Tampa Bay Rays are hopeful that a successful series against Houston is the start of a turnaround. Yunel Escobar drove in two runs during a three-run sixth inning and the Rays beat the Astors 5-2 on Sunday. Escobar hit a two-run single and Sean Rodriguez had an RBI grounder off Dallas Keuchel (8-5) to give the Rays a 4-2 lead in the sixth. The Rays are 8-18 over their past 26 games, including five wins in seven games against Houston. Tampa Bay took three of four in the weekend series. "We won, thats the bottom line," Rays third baseman Evan Longoria said. "Weve got a lot of work to do. We put ourselves in a pretty good hole, but I think that the belief on a daily basis is still we can come to the ballpark and win." Keuchel allowed five runs and nine hits in an eight-inning complete game. It was his third complete game this season. "We did some good things today against a tough pitcher," Longoria said. Dexter Fowler put the Astros up 1-0 when he hit the first pitch of the game from Erik Bedard into the left-field seats. It was his ninth career leadoff homer and third this season. Bedard, who was with Houston last season, gave up two runs and seven hits in 5 1-3 innings. Juan Carlos Oviedo (3-2) got two outs in the sixth for the win. Joel Peralta pitched the ninth for his first save. Rodriguez made it 5-2 on an eighth-inning sacrifice fly. Houston took a 2-1 lead in the third on Jose Altuves single. Jonathan Villar opened the inning with a double, was awarded a steal of third after a replay challenge resulted in an out call being overturned and scored on the hit by Altuve. Altuve has 13 hits in his past 24 at-bats. The Rays tied it at 1 in the bottom of the first on Longorias single Desmond Jennings was caught attempting to steal home with Longoria batting to end the third, a call that was confirmed by a replay review. After catcher Carlos Corporan threw the ball back to Keuchel, Jennings broke for the plate, but was tagged by Corporan after a return throw from Keuchel. "I know he does some uncharacteristic stuff," Kuechel said. "I dont turn my back from the guy on third, so I caught him out of the corner of my eye and just tried to get the ball out as soon as possible." "I still think Desmond was safe," Rays manager Joe Maddon said. "I think throughout this whole process, the think thats really standing out to me, Im into replay, I still believe there needs to be a separate group of umpires that are just out there specifically for replay only. That I hope would be the next step in regards to getting this thing nailed down." NOTES: SS Carlos Correa, taken first overall in the 2012 draft by the Astros, left Saturdays game with Class A Lancaster with a right ankle injury, which occurred while sliding. He will go on the disabled list. "Carlos was examined last night at a local hospital in California," Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow said. "He will travel to Houston early this week to be evaluated further by the Astros medical staff before determining next steps." ... Rays RHP Alex Cobb (2-5) will go against Pirates RHP Edinson Volquez (4-6) in the opener of a three-game series Monday. ... The Astros are off Monday. ... Houston starts a three-game series Tuesday against Atlanta with RHP Scott Feldman (3-4) and Braves RHP Aaron Harang (5-6) the scheduled starters. ... Three-year old Ireland Nugent, who has been fitted with leg prosthetics after a lawnmower accident, threw the ceremonial first pitch. Alana Cook Jersey .com) - The University of Montana named Bob Stitt as its new head football coach on Tuesday. Morgan Brian Jersey . -- The Orlando Magic finally are showing the patience in critical moments that coach Jacque Vaughn has been waiting for all season.TORONTO -- A champion humbled in the cage. Personal turmoil. For Georges St-Pierre, "his worst nightmare." "I have never been so messed up mentally in my life," he said. That was in 2007, six years before the Canadian mixed martial arts star found himself in the spotlight again after a controversial win at UFC 167 Saturday and his revelation that he needs time away from the sport for unexplained personal reasons. St-Pierre, the face of mixed martial arts, is an elite fighter with the reputation as a model citizen outside the cage. But he is no stranger to unwanted drama. At UFC 69 in Houston in April 2007, in his first UFC welterweight title defence, he was knocked out by 10-1 underdog Matt (The Terror) Serra. UFC boss Dana White called it "probably the biggest upset in MMA in a long time." St-Pierre later spoke of upheaval in his life. "I had a lot of personal issues," St. Pierre said. "A lot of stuff was going wrong." It turns out his father was suffering from a brain ailment and a young cousin was in a coma. Fast forward to today and the 32-year-old from Montreal, who won his title back from Serra in 2008 and went on to become the sports pay-per-view king, is back in the headlines as pressures outside the cage take their toll. A split decision over No. 1 contender Johny (Bigg Rigg) Hendricks in Las Vegas drew fire from White, who demanded an investigation into the judging by the Nevada State Athletic Commission The UFC president wanted an immediate rematch. St-Pierre, who said he left his "soul in the Octagon" against Hendricks, wanted time away to attend to personal issues. The champion would not detail what was going on "I need to think. I have stuff going on in my life ... This is my personal life," he told the post-fight news conference. "I cannot speak to you about this. Youre a reporter, I know your job is to make thing public. "But I have a personal life, I keep personal some of my stuff." That has always been St-Pierres way. "Georges is very conservative about his personal life. He keeps everything inside," friend and fellow UFC fighter Patrick Cote said back in 2007. GSPs private life is now headline material again, thanks in part to his opening a Pandoras box Saturday night after his controversial win. He essentially said he had a secret, which set all sorts of people trying to find out what. A TMZ report said the champion is dealing with a family illness and a personal issue. An email to St-Pierres management asking for reaction to the report was not immediately answered. White told The Canadian Press on Monday night that St-Pierre had told him the report was not true. After meeting the champion privately Saturday after the fight, White said St-Pierres issues "arent as bad as he thinks they are." "Yeah, well get through this," he added. In St-Pierres rural Quebec hometown of St-Isidore, south of Montreal, locals said Monday that the champion has nothing left to prove. Michelle Dubuc says she hired a teenage St-Pierre years ago to work at her St-Isidore farm, tending to vegetables and herbs. Dubuc said she has known his family for a long time, adding that the champs father once worked for her dad. "Georges is a family guy," Dubuc said as she enjoyed a happy-hour beer at the towns local sports bar. "I dont think money is important for him... Hes a simple, nice guy and he loves his people in St-Isidore." And St-Pierres father insisted that rumours he has heard about his son arent true, although he would not elaborate. "Everything is OK at the moment for him," Roland St-Pierre told The Canadian Press in a brief exchange at his home. "There are things that came out that are not even true." The elder St-Pierre would only add that his son will determine his own future. USWNT Jerseys 2021. . "If he takes a break, it will be him who decides and it will be OK either way," he said, declining to discuss the matter further. "He will do the right thing." St-Pierre is very close to his family. One of the first things he did with his UFC winnings was pay off his parents mortgage. Family issues weigh heavy on his shoulders. In the wake of losing his title in 2007, St-Pierre conceded he had more than fighting on his mind before meeting Serra. "People were dying. I had to go to the hospital at night," he said at the time. "I was sleeping like maybe two, three hours a night when I was training for that fight. I was sleeping with one eye open because I thought I had to go drive my father to hospital and stuff like that. "I was very worried about a lot of things in my life. Not only this, I had a lot of other stuff going on." Back then, St. Pierre said he didnt talk about his family issues because he didnt want to intrude on their privacy. But it was more than just illness in the family. St. Pierre said he lost his way, focusing on PR more than his training. "I forgot who I was, what was my No. 1 priority," he said back then. "I didnt realize how lucky I was, to have this opportunity to be world champion," he added. "Once I lost, I realized all that stuff and it made me regret a lot of things." Former manager Stephane Patry said at the time that St-Pierre stumbled outside the ring. "He didnt train as much as he should, because he was too busy doing other things than training and fighting," Patry said. "He won the title, hes a kid, he was 25 years old," Patry added, when pressed. "Lets just say he partied a little bit too much." St-Pierre subsequently retooled his organization and entourage. He has not lost since, with the Hendricks fight -- and its apparent surrounding personal pressures -- his closest call. In the wake of the Hendricks fight, the Nevada commission issued a medical suspension to St-Pierre until Jan. 10, with no contact in training until Dec. 17. Hendricks, whose face showed almost no traces that he had been in a fight, was suspended until Dec. 17 with no contact before Dec. 8. But he was also told to get orthopedic clearance on his right knee or else face a ban until May 17. St-Pierre himself was all smiles Monday. The champion tweeted a picture of himself in his Las Vegas hotel with four friends including his mentor, former fighter Kristof (The French Hurricane) Midoux. "Good morning from Vegas - Feeling much better now! Merci a tous pour votre support incroyable!!!" St-Pierre tweeted. He wore a big grin and dark glasses to conceal facial damage from the fight. St-Pierre received a basic purse of US$400,000 while Hendricks got $50,000, missing out on a matching win bonus, according to the Nevada state commission. The UFC awarded both fighters an additional $50,000 as a fight of the night bonus. The purse information only tells part of the financial story, however, since the UFC does not reveal all of its pay figures. St-Pierres paycheque would be the millions given he is the UFCs largest draw and gets a cut of the lucrative pay-per-view revenue. Hendricks (15-2) would also have made considerably more than the posted figure. Fellow Montreal welterweight Rory MacDonald made a basic purse of $50,000 for his decision loss to (Ruthless) Robbie Lawler, who picked up $166,000 including a win bonus of $83,000. MacDonald missed out on a win bonus of $50,000. Former light-heavyweight champion Rashad Evans picked up a basic purse of $250,000, including a $125,000 win bonus, for his first-round TKO of Chael Sonnen ($100,000). ' ' '