Rangers Beat Astros
ARLINGTON, Texas — After a one-day hiccup, the Texas Rangers were back to beating the Houston Astros.
Martin Perez cruised, Prince Fielder homered and the Rangers picked up a 5-3 victory over the Astros on Thursday afternoon at Globe Life Park.
The American West-leading Rangers (37-23) took three of four games against their instate rivals and improved to 9-1 against the Astros this season. Texas also won its club-record 10th consecutive home series.
Perez (5-4) overcame a shaky third inning to win his fourth in a row and improve to 5-2 lifetime against Houston. The 25-year-old left-hander gave up two runs — both in the third — in six innings in his 10th quality start of the season.
“He had good stuff,” Texas manager Jeff Banister said. “The challenge for Perez today was he was able to get ahead 0-2 and went into a little bit of nibble mode trying to get a strikeout instead of getting the ball in play.”
The Astros (29-33) had beaten Texas for the first time this year on Wednesday but squandered a 2-0 lead in the series finale.
“They have a good team and you have to play clean baseball to
beat them,” Houston manager A.J. Hinch said.
Texas reliever Jake Diekman picked up his first save with a scoreless ninth. Regular closer Sam Dyson was given his second straight day off.
Texas took the lead for good with three runs and four hits in the third against Houston starter Collin McHugh. Mitch Moreland, Jurickson Profar and Nomar Mazara each had run-scoring hits.
Fielder lined a solo shot in the fourth just inside the right-field foul pole for his fourth homer of the season and only his second since April 19.
“I had some good swings on some tough pitches,” Fielder said. “I connected on a good one.”
McHugh (5-5) was chased with two outs in the fourth after surrendering four runs and seven hits. It was his shortest stint since his season debut on April 6 and snapped his four-game winning streak against Texas.
Perez didn’t do himself any favors in the third, sandwiching walks around a one-out single by Jose Altuve. The Astros squeezed two runs out of the bases-loaded scenario on Evan Gattis’ sacrifice fly and a Marwin Gonzalez two-out single.
Perez settled down from there and didn’t give up a hit in his final three innings.
Houston picked up a run in the seventh against Texas reliever Tony Barnette and had runners at the corners with two outs before Gonzalez lined out to second to end the threat.
“We need to find a way to win a couple of these close games,” Hinch said. “We’ve lost quite a few games by one or two runs, so every little detail matters.”
The Rangers added an insurance run on Rougned Odor’s homer to right in the eighth.
“The home run by Prince was a little more important, but it’s always nice to have some add-on runs late,” Banister said.
Astros shortstop Carlos Correa left the game in the fourth after spraining his left ankle while running out a groundout. Correa’s left leg slipped across the bag and he was helped off the field by trainers.
Hinch doesn’t expect Correa to go on the disabled list, but he likely won’t play Friday at Tampa Bay.
“He’ll be day to day,” Hinch said.
Altuve moved from second base to short, making his first career major league appearance at that position. Tony Kemp came in to play second and bat third.
The Rangers finished a successful 6-1 homestand that vaulted the club into first place in the division. Texas heads to Seattle for the start of a 10-game road trip on Friday.
