Odor posted his second consecutive three-hit game, finished a double short of the cycle, and led a ninth-inning bounce back that clinched the Texas Rangers’ 7-6 win over the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park.
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In the top of the ninth, words were exchanged between Odor and Astros catcher Hank Conger. There’s no love lost between Texas and Houston, and that animosity if captured perhaps most perfectly in the rivalry between the Rangers and Astros.
HOUSTON (AP) – Texas Rangers manager Jeff Banister certainly didn’t like the melee between his team and the Houston Astros on Saturday night.
“I wasn’t too pleased about him taking his time getting in the box and having (Fielder) wait there”, Conger said. Hinch said. “There’s some emotion involved and there’s some intent to win the game”.
Texas rolled to a 4-0 lead behind right-hander Colby Lewis (9-4), who allowed two runs on four hits in 7 1/3 innings while striking out seven. Josh Hamilton, who had two doubles and a homer Saturday, is 6 for 15 (.400) with a home run versus Keuchel.
We’d show you that clip-but for some stupid reason MLB.com didn’t make that clip embeddable?? He doesn’t need to act like that. Odor responded with a standup triple and scored on a single from Adrian Beltre for the first one, while Hamilton doubled to score Beltre for the seventh and final run.
Conger answered in the bottom of the ninth with a two-run, opposite-field home run off right-hander Shawn Tolleson. Collin McHugh improved to 10-and-5 with six-innings of one-run ball despite allowing 11 hits.
Hamilton, who finished with three hits, sent an 86 miles per hour fastball by Joe Thatcher into the bullpen in right-center to push the lead to 5-1 in the eighth.
“After my first two (at-bats) I was like: ‘I’m going to go up and try to see strikes and be aggressive when I see them and cut it loose instead of kind of feeling for it, ‘” Hamilton said.
Gallardo’s lone 2015 appearance against the Astros came at home April 11, when he yielded two runs and eight hits and struck out seven in 5 2-3 innings of a 6-2 victory.
A possible candidate to be dealt before the July 31 trade deadline, Yovani Gallardo (7-8, 2.62) also ranks among the major league leaders in ERA but has not received a single run of support while going 0-2 with a 2.08 ERA in three July outings.
Astros: 1B Chris Carter sat out a day after spraining his ankle. “It is one of those things I can’t control”.
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Looking to remain undefeated at home, ace Dallas Keuchel tries to help the Astros earn a needed series victory over the Rangers on Sunday. Keuchel is tied for the most wins in the American League and his 2.23 ERA is the best in the AL.
