HOUSTON (AP) -- Mac Suzuki is winless at home and almost unbeatable on the road this season. At least he's consistent.

"This was about the seventh good start in a row he's had, but he hasn't had a lot to show for it," Kansas City manager Tony Muser said after Suzuki pitched seven strong innings and Mark Quinn hit a two-run homer in the Royals' 5-2 victory over the Houston Astros on Saturday night.

"He's very aggressive, he throws strikes and he keeps the ball down. I call it maturity, he's growing and developing into a major league pitcher."

Suzuki (4-3) allowed one unearned run, eight hits and two walks, and struck out seven. The win was his first since June 5. In Suzuki's five previous starts, the Royals scored just seven runs.

"All my wins are on the road and I don't know why," Suzuki said. "I think I'm pitching better than I was at the beginning of the season. Earlier I was trying too hard, and lately I've been throwing nice and easy and throwing strikes."

Against Suzuki, only two Astros made it as far as third base.

"He pitched a great game and he has been pitching great games," teammate Jermaine Dye said. "We got the runs when we needed them and Mac got the grounders when he needed them."

Dye's leadoff homer in the eighth was his 22nd of the season, a franchise record for most home runs before the All-Star break.

Quinn, hitting .224 since his recall from Triple-A Omaha on June 21, hit the first pitch from Wade Miller (0-1) into the right-center field seats to give the Royals a 2-0 lead with no outs in the second.

Quinn's homer drove in Dye, who led off the inning with a single.

"I wanted to have a good series here since (college coach) Wayne (Graham) and a lot of friends and family were here," Quinn said. "I was able to get around on a fastball and fortunately it went out."

Mitch Meluskey, 2-for-4, singled home Lance Berkman with two outs in the sixth to make it 2-1.

The Royals added a pair of runs in the seventh on Rey Sanchez's single.

"They didn't hit a single ball hard in that inning and they got two runs," Houston manager Larry Dierker said. "I think if the outfielder (Moises Alou) was playing shallower he catches it, but it was hard to play much shallower than he was."

Suzuki said he began to tire in the seventh.

"I knew if I walked (Jeff) Bagwell, Tony (Muser) would have probably taken me out," Suzuki said. "I got him to hit the ball to the big part of the park."

Muser said the seventh inning was more evidence of Suzuki's development.

"He was tired but he finished the inning," Muser said. "There's a certain amount of bruising a pitcher goes through when he's learning how to pitch. The good ones go through the process and learn how to pitch in the major leagues. He's coming along well."

Berkman agreed.

"He was tough, he had a pretty good forkball and he kept us off-balance with it," Berkman said. "He was hitting his spots, he wasn't overpowering, but he was never over the middle of the plate where we could hurt him."

Moises Alou, 3-for-4, hit his 14th homer in the eighth to cut it to 5-2.

Miller, called up from Triple-A New Orleans on Thursday to replace Octavio Dotel in the rotation, gave up four runs on eight hits in a career-high seven innings.

"Miller was great, he was everything we hoped he would be and more," Dierker said. "If he pitches like that he'll win a lot of games. It was another night where we couldn't get a break."

The right-hander struck out a career-high eight and walked one.

"I was pretty pleased," Miller said. "I came two pitches away from shutting them down completely, the home run and the bloop hit."

Game notes
Dye's homer was the club-record 72nd allowed by Houston at home this season. The previous record was 71 set in 1998. ... Bagwell has a nine-game hitting streak. ... Alou is hitting .435 (10-for-23) with four homers and 10 RBI in six games. ... Quinn and Berkman were teammates at Rice University.