Pence Robbed of Late Home Run, Rangers edged by Astros
HOUSTON (AP) - Josh Reddick hit the tiebreaking RBI single and preserved Houston's lead with a leaping grab over the wall in right field, and Wade Miley struck out seven in six solid innings as the Astros beat the Texas Rangers 4-2 Thursday for their fifth victory in six games.
Reddick's single with two outs in the sixth scored Yuli Gurriel and gave the Astros a 3-2 lead.
Michael Brantley pushed the lead to 4-2 with a bases-loaded walk off Jose LeClerc in the eighth. Jeanmar Gomez got George Springer to ground out to end the inning.
The Rangers led off the ninth with a walk by Shin-Soo Choo, followed by a single from Elvis Andrus. Roberto Osuna struck out Nomar Mazara and Reddick robbed Hunter Pence of a possible go-ahead home run with a leaping grab over wall. Osuna struck out Joey Gallo to earn his ninth save.
Alex Bregman tied it at 2-all in the fifth with a sacrifice fly that scored Jake Marisnick.
Springer gave the Astros a 1-0 lead with a solo home run to left in the third.
Pence gave the Rangers a 2-1 lead on a two-run homer to right in the fourth. Pence has homered in three straight games.
Miley (3-2) allowed two runs on two hits in six innings. The left-hander recorded his 1,000th career strikeout with a second inning strikeout of Gallo. Miley has allowed three runs or fewer in each of his eight starts this season.
Mike Minor (3-3) gave up three runs on seven hits with five strikeouts in five innings. Minor has allowed three runs or fewer in six of his eight starts this season.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Rangers: Texas placed RHP Shawn Kelley on the 10-day injured list retroactive to Monday with an infection and recalled RHP Wei-Chieh Huang from Triple-A Nashville. The Rangers activated 1B Ronald Guzman (hamstring) from the injured list. The Rangers had optioned OF Delino DeShields to Nashville following Wednesday's game.
RAINING INSIDE THE DOME
In the eighth inning, it started raining inside Minute Maid Park, and some fans could be seen taking cover. The façade in center field was wet and rain could be seen around the upper deck down the right field line, in center field and above the Crawford Boxes in left field. The flags in deep center were whipping around and were drenched.
UP NEXT
Rangers: LHP Lance Lynn (4-2, 5.75 ERA) starts Friday looking for his third straight win after allowing five runs in six innings against the Blue Jays on Saturday.
Astros: RHP Justin Verlander (5-1, 2.86) starts his ninth game of the season Friday after yielding four runs in 6 1/3 innings on Sunday against the Angels.
