ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Playing 780 miles from home, where extensive flooding from Hurricane Harvey put much of Houston underwater, the Houston Astros lost 12-2 to the Texas Rangers on Tuesday night to open a three-game series at Tropicana Field.

"This was more about baseball and less about distractions or frustration," Astros manager A.J. Hinch said after the loss. "They beat us. They just beat us."

The Astros (79-52) have alternated wins and losses in their past seven games, and with their attention back home on continuing heavy rains and flooding in Houston, they are making Tropicana Field their temporary home. After three games with the Rangers, the Astros also might play a three-game series against the Mets in St. Petersburg this weekend.

The Rangers (65-66) snapped a three-game losing streak, getting three hits from Shin-Soo Choo, including a three-run homer in the fifth inning to make it 11-2.

"These two teams, I thought how both teams have handled the situation ... it was nice that we had a crowd show up too," Rangers manager Jeff Banister said. "(And) for both sides to go out and play, especially our guys with the intensity level."

Texas remained three games back of the Minnesota Twins for the second American League wild card, with four teams between them in a postseason logjam entering the final month of the season.

The Tampa Bay Rays, with their team on the road this week, opened their stadium, with $10 general admission tickets and all proceeds going to benefit those impacted by the flooding in Houston. The game drew an announced attendance of 3,485, all in the stadium's lower level and clustered mostly behind the two dugouts.

The Rangers announced they had pledged $1 million for the hurricane relief efforts as well, and the Astros have pledged to donate $4 million to relief efforts.

Texas' Martin Perez (10-10) lasted seven innings, scattering eight hits and limiting the Astros to two runs. Houston's Mike Fiers (8-9) gave up eight runs and eight hits in four innings.

The Rangers' bats got to Fiers for four runs each in the third and fourth innings, chasing him with an 8-2 lead.

"We had a pretty rough night on the mound," Hinch said. "Once they took us out of the game a little bit, it was hard to get back in the game. ... Once the competition starts, we've seen the Rangers a lot. We're very familiar with the surroundings here. I really thank the crowd for coming out and having the number of fans that we did." Texas got it started with a bases-loaded wild pitch, followed by Adrian Beltre's RBI groundout and Joey Gallo's 36th home run of the season, a two-run shot that gave the Rangers a 4-0 lead.

Gallo was activated off the seven-day concussion disabled list before the game.

"Joe's been putting in the work, trying to stay sharp as much as he could," Banister said. "The home run was nice and I thought the two line-drive outs were really nice. I can't say enough about the two guys at the top of the lineup (Choo and Elvis Andrus) setting the table for us."

Houston scored twice in the third inning with RBI singles from Alex Bregman and Jose Altuve to cut the lead to 4-2. Yuli Gurriel's single loaded the bases with one out, but Evan Gattis hit into an inning-ending double play as Perez got out of the jam.

Texas struck for four again in the fourth on a run-scoring single by Choo, an RBI double by Andrus and a two-run bloop single by Beltre. Andrus finished with four hits -- two doubles, a triple and a single.

Beltre's three RBIs give him 1,637 for his career, moving him past Ernie Banks into 28th on baseball's all-time list.

The Rangers, who finished with 14 hits, scored their final run in the eighth inning on an RBI single by Nomar Mazara.

NOTES: The Rangers optioned OF Ryan Rua to Triple-A Round Rock. ... Tuesday's game was the first played by two major league teams at the home of a non-participating team since 2008, when the Astros were relocated to Milwaukee's Miller Park and played the Cubs there because of Hurricane Ike. Miller Park also hosted an Angels-Indians series in 2007. ... The Astros still hold an 8-6 lead in the Lone Star Series against the Rangers. A series win in Florida would secure the "Silver Boot" for Houston for the first time since 2014.