Colby Lewis turned in his second straight dominating performance with a complete game in leading the Texas Rangers to their season-high seventh straight win with a 5-1 victory over the Houston Astros on Saturday night.
Lewis (7-4) faced one over the minimum, allowing one run on two hits with no walks and nine strikeouts on 101 pitches. It was his second complete game of the season.
The right-hander took a perfect game into the fifth inning before giving up a one-out single to Astros outfielder Hunter Pence. But Lewis responded by getting an inning-ending double-play grounder from Pedro Feliz.
In the seventh, Houston’s Michael Bourn led off with a double and eventually scored on a wild pitch from Lewis, but that would be all the 30-year-old would surrender.
At that point, the Rangers already had an edge thanks to Justin Smoak’s two-run home run in the second, his second blast in as many nights.
The Rangers cushioned their lead with a pair of runs in the eighth on RBI singles from Smoak and Vladimir Guerrero. Michael Young added a solo home run in the ninth.
Houston starter Brian Moehler (0-4) had his best outing of the season despite the loss, going six innings, allowing two runs on one hit with four walks and three strikeouts.
Texas | Houston | |
Colby Lewis | Player | Brian Moehler |
Win | W/L | Loss |
9.0 | IP | 6.0 |
9 | Strikeouts | 3 |
2 | Hits | 1 |
1.00 | ERA | 3.00 |
Texas | Houston | |
Justin Smoak | Player | Hunter Pence |
3 | Hits | 1 |
3 | RBI | 0 |
1 | HR | 0 |
6 | TB | 1 |
.750 | Avg | .333 |