Rangers recap: Astros’ Keuchel shuts down Texas for 10-0 shutout

Astros’ ace Dallas Keuchel added to the lore of his breakout season with another gem Sunday against the Rangers. Keuchel struckout a career-high 13 batters and held Texas to two hits in seven innings as the Astros shut out the Rangers 10-0 at Minute Maid Park.

Pitching: The Astros struck Yovani Gallardo for three runs on five hits, including a two-run homer by Colby Rasmus. Gallardo regrouped to pitch a 1-2-3 fourth but had thrown 81 pitches before starting the fifth. He left with no outs and two on in the fifth after his pitch count reached 93. Anthony Ranaudo came on and loaded the bases by hitting Evan Gattis on a 1-2 pitch. Luis Valbuena singled up the middle to drive in two runs to make it 5-0. In the sixth, Valbuena had another two-run single to make it 7-0. Jon Singleton followed with sacrifice fly to score Evan Gattis to make it 8-0. Preston Tucker’s two-run homer to left off Ranaudo in the seventh made it 10-0. Ranaudo was charged with five runs on five hits, three walks, a hit batter and four strikeouts. Anthony Bass pitched a scoreless eighth.

Hitting: Astros’ ace Dallas Keuchel held the Rangers to two hits and no walks in seven innings. He struck out a career-high 13 batters, the most by an Astros’ pitcher since Wandy Rodriguez in 2011. Texas was held to three base runners on three hits.

Notable: Colby Rasmus’ two-run homer in the third was the first allowed by Gallardo since May 19 at Boston, a stretch of 64 2/3 innings ... Adrian Beltre tied Craig Nettles with his 2,412 career games played at third base on Sunday. Brooks Robinson (2,870 games played at third) is the all-time leader. Sunday was Beltre’s 2,496th major league game. Only 54 players have played in 2,500 or more games ... Prince Fielder struck out twice in the same game for the first time since striking out three times on June 20.

This story was originally published July 19, 2015 at 4:17 PM with the headline "Rangers recap: Astros’ Keuchel shuts down Texas for 10-0 shutout."