Rangers recap: Texas holds on late against first-place Astros

The Texas Rangers scored three times in the fifth to comeback on the Houston Astros and held on late to win for the second consecutive night and sixth time in nine games on the current homestand. The Rangers pulled to .500 for the first time since July 4 (41-41).

Pitching: The Astros took a 2-0 lead with runs in the second and third innings against Yovani Gallardo, who came out after allowing a solo homer to Carlos Gomez to lead off the sixth and a walk to Carlos Correa. That pulled Houston to within 4-3. Sam Freeman replaced Gallardo and had the bases loaded with one out after a single and a walk before getting a fly out and ground out to escape the jam. Spencer Patton and Jake Diekman each worked a perfect seventh and eighth. Shawn Tolleson pitched the ninth and was immediately in trouble after a leadoff walk. Luis Valbuena followed with a single to give the Astros runners on the corners and no outs. Marwin Gonzalez grounded out sharply to Mitch Moreland at first, whose only play was to step on the bag. Tolleson struck out Jason Castro and Jose Altuve swinging to end the game and earn his 20th save.

Hitting: Prince Fielder started the fourth with a solo homer off the facade of the upper deck porch in right to pull Texas to within 2-1. Mitch Moreland walked and Shin-Soo Choo doubled over the head of right-fielder Colby Rasmus to give the Rangers runners in scoring position but Elvis Andrus struck out swinging to end the inning. Texas scored three in the fifth to take a 4-2 lead. Chris Gimenez led off with singled and Delino DeShields’ drove him in with a triple to deep right. Rougned Odor followed with a run-scoring single. After Moreland walked, Josh Hamilton singled to right to score Adrian Beltre. In the eighth, Texas runners at second and third but Correa made a diving stop on a hard-hit grounder by DeShields and threw him out to end the inning. Astros starter Dan Straily, just up from the minors, left after allowing four earned runs on six hits and three walks in 4 2/3 innings.

Notable: Rangers are 6-3 on their current homestand. Chris Gimenez stole two bases after entering the game with one in parts of seven seasons in the big leagues.

This story was originally published August 4, 2015 at 10:35 PM with the headline "Rangers recap: Texas holds on late against first-place Astros."