LaMonte Wade Jr. struck the biggest blow among the Houston Astros’ three home runs against the Texas Rangers on Saturday, but as is usually the case in Arlington, Yordan Alvarez was involved.
While Wade hit his first career grand slam, Alvarez sparked the Astros’ 9-3 victory with a two-run homer in the first inning. It marked his seventh home run in six games in Arlington this season, and in 36 career games on the road against Texas, Alvarez has a whopping 19 home runs.
“The consistency with how he performs in this ballpark — he sees the ball so well,” Astros manager Joe Espada said of Alvarez, who finished 2-for-3 with a double, two runs and two walks on Saturday. “That’s a really good pitching staff over there, especially their starting rotation. He’s able to come here and do it year by year and put some really good numbers in this ballpark.”
By squaring the three-game series with their win, the Astros can move within one game of the Rangers atop the American League West with a victory in the rubber match on Sunday.
Houston leads the season series 6-3 against its in-state rival.
“(Sunday) is another big one,” Wade said. “It’d be good to end the first half on a good, strong note, get some rest, and come back and do this all again in the second half.”
Right-hander Cristian Javier (0-1, 10.22 ERA) will be the Astros’ starter for the series finale. It will mark just the fourth start of the season for Javier and his first since returning from the 60-day injured list on July 3.
He is 0-1 with a 12.54 ERA in three starts this season and 34-22 with a 3.90 ERA across 93 career starts.
He is 7-1 with a 3.66 ERA in 16 career appearances (12 starts) vs. the Rangers. In his previous appearance against them on Sept. 17, 2025, he allowed two runs on five hits and one walk, with four strikeouts over six innings in a 5-2 home victory.
Left-hander MacKenzie Gore (5-8, 4.72 ERA) will start on short rest for the Rangers on Sunday. He will fill the void of right-hander Jacob deGrom, who was scheduled to start but was scratched with a hip ailment.
Gore allowed a season-high seven runs on nine hits and one walk with seven strikeouts over five innings in a 13-1 loss to the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday. He is 1-4 with a 5.90 ERA over his last seven starts.
Gore is 0-2 with a 5.40 ERA across three career starts against the Astros. He surrendered six runs on eight hits and one walk with four strikeouts over 5 1/3 innings in a 9-1 loss to them while pitching for the Washington Nationals on July 30, 2025.
“First, it was MacKenzie that wanted to do it,” Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said of the decision to start Gore on short rest. “He’s done this a few times.
“He’s in incredible shape, an incredible competitor. And he wanted this game instead of throwing the bullpen (session). It was great to hear for us. After talking through it and seeing what his work was like in recovery, we felt good about it.”
–Field Level Media
