HOUSTON -- The Twins came out swinging and aggressive against Astros ace Justin Verlander on Wednesday night. That was evident when leadoff hitter Max Kepler turned on the second pitch of the game -- a well-located fastball up and in -- and fouled it off.

If you know anything about Verlander, he’s always up for a good challenge.

The right-hander went into attack mode himself and dominated the Twins over eight innings, allowing one run on four hits without walking a batter while striking out eight to lead the Astros to a 7-1 win in the rubber game at Minute Maid Park.

“It was a good job of seeing what they were trying to do and combating that with pitches they couldn’t do damage on,” Astros manager AJ Hinch said.

Verlander (4-0) has a 1.29 ERA over his last three starts and has 46 strikeouts and only nine walks this season. He relied on the four-seam fastball to plow through the Twins early before switching more to his offspeed stuff later. He was especially pleased with the effectiveness of his curveball.

“I think every team represents the unique challenge you need to prepare for,” Verlander said. “I think the biggest thing is just make adjustments in-game. I’ve been pitching for a long time, and I think one of my best attributes is trusting my instincts when I’m out there. I was able to do that quite a bit tonight.”

Verlander became the first Astros starter to work into the eighth inning this year, and he was the first to not allow a run in the first inning since he did it on Friday against the Rangers. Wade Miley gave up three runs in the first on Tuesday before retiring 17 of the final 18 batters he faced, a performance from which Verlander drew inspiration.

“I went out there today and tried to attack these guys and put them on their heels and allow us to scratch across some runs and keep on the gas,” Verlander said.

Carlos Correa homered to lead off the first inning, and Michael Brantley (third inning) and Josh Reddick (eighth inning) added two-run homers to send the Astros to their eighth win in nine home games this year. Verlander retired the first 10 batters he faced and had a 3-0 lead before the Twins even got a runner on base, which happened when Jorge Polanco hit a solo home run.

“He’s that good at what he does and you know what you’re getting,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “We talk about it all the time. When you show up and you face guys of this caliber, you generally can’t play good. You have to generally play a great game, have great at-bats and pitch and play defense and I think we played fine tonight. This was a day, though, where just I think we got beat.”

Verlander, who earned his 20th career win against Minnesota, is pitching at a Cy Young caliber once again at age 36. He needed 98 pitches to get through eight innings before earning a handshake from Hinch. The 208th win of his career moved him into a tie for the Top 100 in Major League history.

“The last few starts have been right where I want to be,” Verlander said. “The first few was tinkering and working on some things, but then I settled in and found my rhythm.”