Rangers sweep Astros to extend AL West lead

And it’s resulted in the Rangers opening up a 2.5 game lead in the AL West on the rival Astros.

It was a rough night for the Astros as they were blown out Wednesday night against the Rangers 14-3, but at least one highlight came out of it for them.

In the case of this year’s Texas Rangers, neither argument seems terribly strong. The 21-year-old second baseman went 2-for-4 with an RBI and continued his career trend of owning the Astros. If this Texas Rangers’ sweep of the Astros in any indication of things to come, fans should start planning to watch some postseason games again. The Angels were three back of Texas on Monday morning, and now sit 3.5 back of the Astros. Chris Gimenez led off with single and Drew Stubbs was used as a pinch-runner.

Houston Astros’ Carlos Correa, left, is forced out at second as… He also committed a balk that led to a Houston run in the game. Houston is 4-11 so far in September, including losses in two of three at Oakland, and is 1-5 in six games against the A’s since the All-Star break.

The Astros play Oakland on Friday, the first of nine games on their final homestand of the regular season.

Time is running out for the Astros to make good on their fairytale start, and missing the playoffs is now a realistic possibility with 16 games remaining, including three more against the Rangers.

“I knew they were going to be aggressive. It’s nothing that a good win can’t overcome”. But going 2-8 and losing all four games against the Texas Rangers has to be the nightmare scenario for all but the most pessimistic of Astros fans.

Houston (77-68) holds the second AL wild card, 1 1-2 games ahead of Minnesota after the Twins lost to Detroit 5-4. Florimon was out at home on a grounder to Baez, with replay officials ruling catcher Miguel Montero did not block the plate. That was not the answer but we continued the thought process of him playing in left field. “(Houston’s) a great team. “You chalk it up as that and move on”. I like managers that are willing to go to battle for their players and show up for them and believe in them every day, even in tough times. The Rangers are really confident right now, so they did not fall for Keuchel’s normal repertoire.

“He wasn’t close tonight, he was a man on a mission, getting out front and showing what he can be in that batter’s box for us”. Miami has won 12 of it’s last 16 overall, including taking 2-of-3 in a home series versus Washington last week.

“You saw some big hitters on a mission”, Texas manager Jeff Banister said.

Napoli played his third professional game in left field. Shin-Soo Choo’s single and Prince Fielder’s walk set up Moreland’s two-out, opposite-field blast on a curve ball.

Jed Lowrie had a two-out single in the Houston fourth before an RBI double by Evan Gattis.

Lewis (16-8), Moreland and shortstop Elvis Andrus were part of the World Series teams in 2010 and 2011.

In the seventh, Beltre fielded Jose Altuve’s chopper, stepped on third and threw across the diamond for another big double play. Travis Wood struck out five in two flawless innings for his second save.

“It was definitely a complete series for us”, Moreland said.

PITTSBURGH – Anthony Rizzo started a six-run fifth inning with a two-run homer, and the Chicago Cubs rallied for a 9-6 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Thursday to take three of four games between NL playoff contenders.