Ouch! Houston Astros Blast Bullpen To Beat Texas Rangers

The Houston Astros scored six runs in the seventh to blow it open and beat the Texas Rangers in a crucial AL West series opener.

ARLINGTON – The Houston Astros blew open a back-and-forth game with six runs in the seventh inning to beat the Texas Rangers 13-6 Monday afternoon at Globe Life Field.

The loss drops the Rangers (76-61) back into third place in the AL West, a game behind the Astros (78-61), who are now in a first-place tie with the Seattle Mariners, who lost Monday at Cincinnati.

The Astros have won the season series against the Rangers seven consecutive years.

It also clinches the season series for the Astros against the Rangers, which could prove crucial if postseason tiebreaking rules are necessary. Even with wins in the final two games of the season series on Tuesday and Wednesday, the best Texas could finish against Houston is 6-7.

The Rangers are 4-13 since starting an eight-game losing streak on Aug. 16.

Reliever Josh Sborz took the brunt of the Astros explosion in the seventh. He was charged with six runs (five earned) on five hits and two walks, including Yainer Diaz's three-run homer that gave the Astros an 11-5 lead. Houston batted around in the inning. 

Corey Seager homered twice but his two-run error helped spur the Astros game-breaking seventh inning.

The Astros, however, came right back with two solo homers from Mauricio Dubon and Jose Altuve to take a 5-4 lead against reliever Glenn Otto. Dubon and Altuve hit consecutive homers again in the ninth to make it 13-5. Houston collected 16 hits and held Texas to nine, including a solo homer by Josh Smith and an infield singles by Leody Taveras and Seager in the ninth. Seager and Garver were a combined 5 for 8 with five RBI. The rest of the Rangers lineup was 4 for 28 with nine strikeouts. 

But Mitch Garver, who has been on a power tear the past two weeks, tied it at 5-5 with a solo homer in the bottom of the sixth.

The Rangers took a 2-0 lead on Seager's two-run, first-pitch homer to right field in the first inning. They pushed it to 3-0 on Mitch Garver's run-scoring single in the third.

Seager's second homer gave the Rangers a 4-3 lead in the bottom of the fifth after the Astros had tied it 3-3 with three runs in the top of the inning.

The Astros broke through against Andrew Heaney in the fifth. Heaney hit Chas McCormick to start the inning and nearly had a double play to end the inning. The Astros challenged the out call at first and it was overturned. Jose Altuve's infield hit to the left of the mound was fielded by Heaney, who threw wildly to first. That set up Houston's big inning. Alex Bregman's bases-loaded single up the middle scored Altuve and Jeremy Pena to tie it at 3-3.

After another Heaney walk, Glenn Otto took over and got Kyle Tucker to ground out to end the inning.

Astros 13, Rangers 6

Here are the key moments from Monday's Rangers-Astros game:

So Long, Josh Sborz

Reliever Josh Sborz may have pitched for the last time in a while. Sborz has struggled in his past six outings, including six runs (five earned) in 2/3 innings in Monday's loss.

In his past six appearances, Sborz has allowed 14 runs (13 earned) on 13 hits, including four homers. He's walked four and struck out three over the five-inning stretch.

Heaney Runs Out Of Gas

Andrew Heaney was rolling for four innings but ran out of gas in the fifth when the Astros took advantage of some walks and Heaney's throwing error to first. Heaney allowed three runs on five hits and four walks in 4 2/3 innings.

Garver grooving

Mitch Garver homered in the sixth to tie it at 5-5. It's Garver's eighth homer in his past 15 games. He had two homers on Sunday.

Up Next

The Rangers and Astros play Game 2 at 7:05 p.m. Tuesday. Left-hander Framber Valdez faces a Rangers starter to be announced. It's likely to be Nathan Eovaldi, who has been on the injury list with right forearm soreness since July 30.

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You can follow Stefan Stevenson on Twitter @StefanVersusTex.

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