That all three cashed in on Saturday night proved beneficial.
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On the eighth pitch of an at-bat against Reds reliever Ross Ohlendorf, Pirates pinch hitter Sean Rodriguez connected on a walkoff solo homer in the ninth inning. The backstop now has three home runs and four RBI in his first four games with his new club. Choo started the seventh with a walk, stole second base, and scored on Carlos Beltran’s single to give Texas a 2-1 lead. Taking a no-decision against Toronto his last time out, Fister went six innings with four hits and no earned.
After breezing through the ensuing seven frames with just two baserunners allowed, Keuchel surrendered a two-out double to Beltre in the ninth. And then a future Hall of Famer, in my opinion, in Beltran. “But after that just stayed in the game and couldn’t score some runs”. Lucroy homered off Astros starter Doug Fister before adding an opposite-field blast off left-hander Tony Sipp. “I don’t think they’re all related”. “It’s really cool and it’s a lot of fun out there”. Makes it easier to play, makes it easier to get us more excited. “Just a whole different feeling”.
With the Rangers trailing 1-0 in the 6th, and facing the possibility of seeing their lead in the American League West drop to 4 1/2 games, Lucroy hit the game-tying home run into the Crawford Boxes.
Luckily for Texas, the Rangers only have winning pieces in their bullpen as the combination of Tony Barnette, Keone Kela, Jeremy Jeffress, Jake Diekman, and Sam Dyson combined to throw 5 1/3 innings with only Dyson allowing a run as the ‘pen combined for 7 Ks.
“We were 5-for-21 with runners in scoring position”, Banister said.
In the opener of a three-game series, Keuchel threw his fourth career complete-game shutout to narrow the Astros’ deficit in the West to 5 1/2 games. “Things worked out for us today”. Rangers LHP Derek Holland (shoulder) pitched two scoreless innings during a rehab stint at Triple-A Round Rock on Friday.2. Jose Altuve finished 2-for-3 with two RBIs to pace the attack.Perez surrendered five runs on eight hits and three walks with four strikeouts over seven innings.
Harrell benefited from the defensive handiwork of Lucroy, who erased Jose Altuve when Altuve attempted to swipe second after he walked to lead off the third. Altuve grounded out to end the inning. And while Harrell departed his start having thrown more balls (48) than strikes (44), he allowed just one run, setting the stage for the Rangers to rally late.
“Certainly on our end we had a chance in the first”, Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. “We needed that big one and Desmond was able to come through”. “Sometimes I’m trying to throw flawless pitches”. Musgrove now has 14 strikeouts in 11 1/3 innings pitched in the majors.
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TIGERS 4, METS 3 Victor Martinez homered and Detroit ace Justin Verlander limited NY to four hits in six innings to help host Detroit beat NY for its ninth victory in its past 10 games. He has more hits in that span (19) than he did in his first 49 games this season (18).
