Rangers pound Keuchel, Astros

Texas Rangers’ Shin-Soo Choo, left, bumps fists with first base… Those are the most runs the AL Cy Young candidate has allowed in a game all season.

The Astros are the better team and they are home with a sense of urgency regarding the post season making them the better play here.

A fan waves a small broom with a Texas Rangers flag attached to it… The Astros do have to stop the bleeding, however, as they start a home stand that includes the A’s, the Angels, and the Rangers.

Texas now leads the division by 2½ games with 16 remaining, including three at Houston from September 25-27.

Baltimore moved within 4 1/2 games of Houston for the second AL wild card.

The Indians and Orioles both managed to improve their standing by a half game, but they are still four and 5.5 games out, respectively, so they needed to take more advantage of this slide than they have. That could be the series that determines which of these teams wins the division. “The energy, the passion, the grit”. “Out of all the starters in this stretch as I watched him walk around and worked, just the expression on his face, I knew we were going to get a guy who was ready to go and he showed it tonight”.

“They’re good; that’s how they win games”, Houston manager A.J. Hinch said. “We’ve come this far, we’ve earned it, we’re still having a good time”.

Moreland’s 21st homer was an opposite-field drive that just cleared the 14-foot-wall in left field in the third.

Rookie right-hander Lance McCullers (5-6) took the loss. The 36-year-old Californian struggled mightily during his skid, surrendering a total of 18 runs – 15 earned – and 23 hits over 15 2/3 innings. The latest led to chants of “Nap-o-li!, Nap-o-li!” as were popular when the slugger was part of the Rangers’ last World Series run in 2011.

The Rangers had a rough opening to the 2015 Major League Baseball season, residing in last place until around mid-May. “Chasing a pennant is never easy”, Banister said.

The lefty is coming off of an outing where he received a no-decision against the Astros by yielding three runs on seven hits in seven innings. Perez allowed a run on nine hits and a walk and struck out three. Pitcher Colby Lewis hit Preston Lewis, the next batter, and Luis Valbuena looped a single into right, pulling the Astros within one run at 3-2. Martin hit a two-run double in the four-run first and added a two-run homer off Ryan Kelly in the ninth. As you can see from the graph, it quickly declined as the Astros struck back in the top of the second inning. Hinch said there is a chance Castro could play in the series finale Thursday. “Each game seemed like a complete win”.

There was a moment of silence before the game to honor Hall of Fame broadcaster Milo Hamilton, who died earlier Thursday at age 88. Then, a two city-western road trip to Seattle for three games and Phoenix for three games against the Diamondbacks to finish the regular season. He had been on the disabled list since August . 29 with a right quadriceps strain. No, this is not Maury where we are doing paternity tests, the Rangers proclaimed this with their actions during last night’s game. The 21-year-old second baseman went 2-for-4 with an RBI and continued his career trend of owning the Astros.