Houston never trailed. The Astros scored in five of their first seven innings and let the lead grow until a laugher was the only possible outcome, beating the Rangers 11-2. What began as a manageable game turned into a landslide by the late innings, with Houston tacking on four runs in the seventh alone.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TEX | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 0 |
| HOU | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 1 | X | 11 | 18 | 0 |
Isaac Paredes was the offensive centerpiece, going 2-for-3 with a home run, two RBIs and two walks. His fifth-inning solo shot to left, measured at 395 feet, extended the lead to 0-5, and he added an RBI single in the seventh that pushed the score to 2-10. Yainer Diaz also went deep, finishing 4-for-5 with a run scored and an RBI, while Jeremy Pena drove in three runs on a 3-for-5 night, including a two-run double in the seventh. Christian Walker chipped in a home run of his own, part of a night that left him sitting at 196 career homers, four shy of 200.
The Astros broke it open in the second. LaMonte Wade doubled to right to score Trammell and put Houston ahead 0-1, and Yordan Alvarez followed with a single that brought home both Diaz and Wade Jr. for a 0-3 lead. Houston kept building from there — Pena's RBI single made it 0-4 in the fourth, and back-to-back home runs from Paredes and Christian Walker in the fifth stretched the margin to 0-6. The Astros put the game away in the seventh, with Diaz's homer, a two-run double from Pena and an RBI single from Paredes turning a comfortable lead into a rout at 2-10.
Texas got its only offense in the sixth, when Joc Pederson homered to right center and Evan Carter's RBI single later scored Seager, cutting the deficit to 2-6 before Houston pulled away again. Nathan Eovaldi took the loss, allowing 6 runs on 10 hits over 5.0 innings with 5 strikeouts, and Texas's bullpen was rocked for 5 runs over 3.0 innings. Hunter Brown earned the win for Houston, working 5.2 innings and allowing 2 runs on 6 hits with 5 strikeouts and 2 walks, carrying a 3.42 ERA, before the Astros' bullpen closed it out with 3.1 scoreless innings.
The win extended Houston's streak to four straight, improving the Astros to 56-55 and holding them atop their division. Texas, meanwhile, dropped its third in a row and fell to 55-55.