Astros edge Rangers 5-4, stretching AL West lead with 5th straight win

HOUSTON (AP) — Taylor Trammell had two RBIs and Christian Walker added two hits and drove in a run to held give the Houston Astros a 5-4 victory over the Texas Rangers Saturday night that increased their lead in the AL West.

It’s the fifth straight victory for the Astros and their 10th in 11 games that has propelled them to a 1 1/2-game lead over the Rangers atop the division.

Wyatt Langford and Elias Díaz hit solo homers for the Rangers, who dropped their fourth in a row.

The Rangers trailed by 2 with one out in the sixth when Díaz’s homer to right field to cut the lead to 5-4.

But Houston’s bullpen shut Texas down the rest of the way. Closer Josh Hader struck out one in a scoreless ninth to improve to 15-for-15 on save opportunities.

The game was tied when the Astros loaded the bases with one out in the fourth. Walker’s RBI single on a grounder to first that a diving Joc Pederson deflected made it 4-3.

That ended Jacob deGrom’s night and Cole Winn took over. Houston pushed the lead to 5-3 when Yordan Alvarez scored on a wild pitch by Winn.

Alvarez, who has an MLB-leading 35 homers, doubled and scored twice on a night he was intentionally walked two times.

Texas loaded the bases with two outs in the fifth but Bennett Souza struck out Ezequiel Duran to escape the jam.

The Astros took an early lead when Jose Altuve scored on a two-out single in the second inning by LaMonte Wade Jr.

The Rangers tied it on Langford’s homer to left field with two outs in the third.

The bases were loaded with two outs in the bottom of the inning when Trammell singled on a grounder to left field to score two and put Houston up 3-1.

Alejandro Osuna’s RBI single with one out in the fourth cut the lead to 1. Díaz followed with a sacrifice bunt that sent another run home to tie it at 3-all.

Houston starter Ronel Blanco allowed five hits and three runs in 4 2/3 innings. deGrom (7-7) yielded seven hits and five runs in 3 1/3 innings.

Up next

Houston RHP Peter Lambert (8-5, 3.06 ERA) opposes RHP Kumar Rocker (4-8, 4.03) when the series concludes Sunday.

___

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb