Joc Peterson and Wyatt Langford hit home runs to back the continued strong pitching of Tyler Mahle as the host Texas Rangers defeated the Houston Astros 5-1 on Saturday night in Arlington, Texas.
The Rangers won for the seventh time in eight games and have taken two of the first three contests of the four-game set with their Lone Star State rivals. The Astros are 3-2 over their past five games and committed three errors in Saturday’s loss, with all of them contributing to Texas’ scoring.
Peterson’s two-run blast in the sixth inning, his second of the season, drove home Marcus Semien in front of him and was just his second hit in 19 at-bats. The one-out homer snapped a 1-1 tie and allowed Mahle (5-1) to earn his second straight decision.
Mahle extended his team-record beginning to the season with his 10th consecutive start allowing two runs or fewer. The right-hander allowed one run on five hits and two walks in six innings of work while recording three strikeouts.
The Texas bullpen got the job done on Saturday after faltering on Friday. Jacob Webb walked two and struck out two in the seventh, Chris Martin followed with a perfect eighth and Robert Garcia finished up in the ninth as the Astros could not mount a rally.
Houston’s Ronel Blanco (3-4) also went six innings, allowing three runs (including the Pederson home run) on five hits and three walks while striking out five.
Bennett Sousa relieved in the seventh, walked Sam Haggerty and watched as a throwing error by Christian Walker on a pickoff play allowed Haggerty to go to third. Haggerty then scored on a sacrifice fly to left field by Josh Smith that made it 4-1.
Langford followed with a 431-foot solo home run to left field, his team-leading ninth of the year.
The Astros jumped to the lead in the first inning when Walker’s two-out double plated Issac Paredes, who had singled. That held up until Langford singled home Kyle Higashioka with one out in the third to tie the game at 1-1.
Pederson’s unlikely homer snapped the deadlock, and the Astros’ errors and, ultimately, Langford’s solo round-tripper were more than Houston could overcome.
–Field Level Media
