Texas 6, Houston 1
When: 8:10 PM ET, Monday, June 12, 2017
Where: Minute Maid Park, Houston, Texas
Temperature:
Indoors
Umpires:
Home -
CB Bucknor, 1B -
Mark Carlson, 2B -
Manny Gonzalez, 3B -
Fieldin Culbreth
Attendance:
25698
By The Sports Xchange
HOUSTON -- Rangers right-hander Yu Darvish had labored just enough in recent appearances to contemplate what served as the primary obstacle to his success: an inability to adjust accordingly or something blocking a positive state of being.
Darvish worked seven strong innings and Nomar Mazara provided some insurance with a two-out, three-run homer in the eighth inning in the Texas Rangers' 6-1 win over the Houston Astros on Monday night at Minute Maid Park.
Darvish (6-4) allowed just one hit, an RBI single by Astros third baseman Alex Bregman, and three walks while striking out four. Aside from the lone run he surrendered, Darvish did not allow a runner to reach scoring position. He retired the first seven batters he faced and, after issuing a one-out walk to Marwin Gonzalez in the sixth inning, set down the final five batters he faced on the night.
"I thought it was a great night for Yu," Rangers manager Jeff Banister said. "His sinker played very well to both sides of the plate. He was able to run the four-seam (fastball) up and down to left-handers. Curveball showed up big for him early; didn't break out the slider until the sixth, which allowed him to get some late outs. Just a great performance. Felt like the ball came out really clean for Yu tonight and seemed to be very strong."
The Rangers (31-32) have won four consecutive games and five of six overall. They scraped across a pair of runs against Houston starter Joe Musgrove (4-5) before touching up the Astros bullpen in the sixth inning and again in the eighth.
Third baseman Adrian Beltre produced an RBI double off right-hander Chris Devenski that scored Elvis Andrus for a 3-1 lead in the sixth. Mazara belted his eighth home run to straightaway center field off righty Dayan Diaz in the eighth.
The Astros (44-21), ravaged by injuries to their rotation, lost right fielder Josh Reddick to a mild concussion. They have dropped five of their last seven games.
"We sent him home," Astros manager A.J. Hinch said of Reddick. "He's going to rest and we're going to reevaluate him tomorrow. It's not something that immediately puts him on the concussion DL. It's something we're going to take day-to-day."
Making his first start since May 26 after going on the disabled list with right shoulder discomfort, Musgrove breezed through the first inning and retired the first two batters in the second before suddenly hitting a bump in the road.
Rougned Odor and Joey Gallo recorded back-to-back RBI triples in the second, with Odor plating Jonathan Lucroy to break the scoreless tie. Gallo was later erased at the plate for the final out as he tried to score on a miscue by the Astros. Musgrove recovered the errant baseball and made a throw to catcher Brian McCann, who applied the tag on Gallo just before he touched home plate.
Musgrove departed with two outs in the fifth inning, allowing two runs on five hits and one walk with two strikeouts on 75 pitches.
"Seventy-five (pitches) was kind of a lower count for me," Musgrove said. "I know I understand I am coming off a little DL stint. I expected to not go 100 but I would have liked to go longer. Would have liked to give our bullpen a little bit more time off there."
A half-inning later, the Astros mustered their lone hit off Darvish, with Bregman plating Carlos Beltran with his two-out single to left. But Beltre got that run back for the Rangers in the sixth and Darvish made sure the cushion was sufficient.
"I usually stay with my strength and I go with my stuff, what I've got on the day," said Darvish, who departed with the Rangers trailing in each of his previous three starts. "But that previous outing that I learned I just studied hard on each hitter and what their tendencies are and I went at it today."
NOTES: Astros RHP Lance McCullers landed on the 10-day disabled list Monday, retroactive to June 9, with lower back discomfort. McCullers was scheduled to start on Tuesday but RHP Brad Peacock will pitch on short rest while RHP Francis Martes will make his first career start on Wednesday. ... Barring unforeseen setbacks, Texas RHP Tyson Ross is on pace to make his season and Rangers debut on Friday against the Seattle Mariners. Ross is on the 60-day disabled list recovering from thoracic outlet surgery and back spasms. He signed as a free agent with Texas after spending the previous four seasons with San Diego. ... Rangers CF Carlos Gomez will complete additional workouts with the club before a decision is made regarding when he will be sent out for a rehab assignment. Gomez landed on the 10-day disabled list on May 16 with a right hamstring strain.
Top Game Performances
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Hits |
HR |
TB |
Avg |
LOB |
K |
RBI |
BB |
SB |
Errors |
Texas
|
9 |
1 |
17 |
.265 |
14 |
9 |
6 |
3 |
3 |
0 |
Houston
|
2 |
0 |
3 |
.069 |
13 |
5 |
1 |
4 |
1 |
0 |