“It’s been a long year and a heavy year for him and all our players”. “We’re at a point now where we need to find out how it’s going to go”. But we live in Houston and we know our sports teams never make things easy. That’s not a fair assessment.
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“I think I was actually the exact same”, Keuchel said.
“I thought he had some really good competing moments through the ballgame to work his way out of some different situations”, Rangers manager Jeff Banister said of Perez, who allowed two runs (both unearned) on five hits and one walk with six strikeouts over six innings.
Perez wasn’t as sharp in his follow-up, surrendering five runs and walking three in four-plus innings of Tuesday’s 8-6 win at Oakland.
When Jose Altuve belted his second home run of the game in the eighth inning to join Carlos Correa in the multi-homer category, the production seemed a tad superfluous for the Houston Astros. “It’s still day to day based off how he feels”, Banister said. “We are tough enough to overcome this as a group”. Keuchel (LHP) will be on the hill against the Rangers, who have a 31-28 record against left-handed starting pitchers. “You give him nice strike zone, and he can be a challenge”. The Rangers pushed the lead to 3-0 on an RBI single by Rougned Odor.
ANGELS 3, MARINERS 2 (at Anaheim, Calif.) – Kole Calhoun drove in the tiebreaking run in the eighth inning for surging Los Angeles.
Luke Gregerson nailed down his 29th save in the ninth inning with aplomb…and much less drama and histrionics than in his appearance yesterday.
Holland closed with two scoreless innings but is 0-2 with an 8.59 ERA in his last four starts. Napoli is 3-for-6 with a homer off Keuchel. In the process, he surrendered a 1-0 lead on a two-run double by Jake Marisnick. The resurgence of Elvis Andrus and Shin Soo Choo have been two of the most critical turnarounds this season.
Andres Blanco struck a go-ahead two-run homer off Jonathan Papelbon in an eight-run ninth inning as the Philadelphia Phillies rallied for a 12-5 victory over Washington, in a game which involved a dugout scuffle between Papelbon and Nationals right fielder Bryce Harper.
Manager A.J. Hinch said Altuve didn’t have a concussion and hoped to play on Saturday. They have won only two road series since early May. They stayed a half-game ahead of the Los Angeles Angels, with Minnesota trailing by 1 ½ games.
The Rangers return home Monday for the final seven games of the regular season with Colby Lewis on the mound.
The win ends an eight-game losing streak to the Rangers and was Houston’s first win in four games.
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Two months later, Kazmir and the Astros have lost all the momentum they established in late July, with Kazmir scuffling through his second consecutive poor start and fourth of sub-par quality in September.
