Rangers Lose To Astros
HOUSTON — When Jose Altuve belted his second home run of the game in the eighth inning to join Carlos Correa in the multi-homer category, the production seemed a tad superfluous for the Houston Astros. But the extra runs turned out to be needed when the Texas Rangers rallied in the ninth.
Led by Altuve and Correa, the Astros blasted six home runs and kept alive their slim American League West title hopes with a 9-7 victory over the Rangers on Saturday at Minute Maid Park.
With two outs in the ninth against Astros closer Luke Gregerson, the Rangers strung together four consecutive hits, including an RBI infield single from right fielder Shin-Soo Choo and a two-run single from Prince Fielder. After Gregerson surrendered three runs, right-hander Will Harris entered to retire first baseman Mitch Moreland, posting his second save in the process.
The Astros (81-74) snapped an eight-game skid against the Rangers (84-70) with Correa and Altuve homering twice each. Houston cut the deficit in the AL West to 3 1/2 games and set up a rubber match Sunday with ace left-hander Dallas Keuchel, who is 14-0 at home, scheduled to start.
Correa cranked his 20th and 21st home runs of the season in the first and third innings, setting a club record for home runs by a shortstop (previously set by Dickie Thon in 1983) and matching the franchise mark for home runs by a rookie (Lance Berkman, 2000). Correa finished 3-for-4 with a walk, three runs and three RBIs.
“I felt good today. I felt a lot better,” said Correa, who was under the weather on Friday and struck out three times. “Yesterday was not a good day for me and everybody knows that. I don’t call it struggle. It was just one game. It happens. It’s baseball. I made the adjustments today. I was able to bounce back and help the team win a ballgame.”
Altuve had his first career multi-homer game, pulling the Astros within 4-2 with his leadoff shot to left off Rangers left-hander Derek Holland in the third inning before adding his 14th home run of the season with one out in the eighth. Altuve finished 2-for-4 with two RBIs.
Holland allowed four earned runs and seven hits, including three homers, with two walks and just one strikeout in five rocky innings.
“I didn’t hit spots,” Holland said. “I hung a slider to Correa and a changeup to him. That curveball (the Altuve homer in the third inning) was fairly a good pitch. Altuve’s a pretty good hitter.”
When Colby Rasmus, who entered as a defensive replacement in left field in the top of the seventh, led off the bottom of the inning with a first-pitch homer off Texas left-hander Sam Freeman, he matched the performance of first baseman Chris Carter, whose leadoff homer an inning earlier off Chi Chi Gonzalez (4-6) gave Houston a 5-4 lead.
The Astros have hit at least six homers in a game 10 times in club history, last doing so on June 5, 2013, against Baltimore.
“Our quick-strike offense is always there, and certainly it was nice to have multiple guys throughout the order (contribute),” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said.
“We have a chance to win the series tomorrow, which is a big deal, and (we) certainly needed every run today given how Texas never quits.”
The Rangers grabbed a 3-0 lead against Astros right-hander Collin McHugh (18-7) in the first inning, with Moreland delivering a two-out, two-run double that scored Fielder and Adrian Beltre, who singled and walked, respectively, to ignite the rally.
The Rangers gave the Astros a scare with the ninth-inning rally.
“Yeah, that was fun,” Moreland said. “That’s what you play for right there. Go out and string those innings together, keep putting pressure on guys. We’ve been able to do it all year and it was another example today. Never give up. We fight all 27 outs. It was a fun game. We were on the wrong end of it, but it carries some momentum into tomorrow.”
