Rangers recap: Astros even series with six-pack of homers

The Houston Astros belted six homers, including two by Carlos Correa and Jose Altuve, to even the series Saturday with an 9-7 win against the Texas Rangers. The Rangers still lead the Astros by  3 1/2 games. The series finale is at 1 p.m. Sunday at Minute Maid Park.

Pitching: Derek Holland allowed three of the five homers, including two to Correa and left after five innings with the game tied at 4-4. Correa hit a solo shot to left in the first to pull the Astros to within 3-1. In the third, Jose Altuve led off with a homer and Correa followed with a two-run shot to tie it at 4-4.

Chi Chi Gonzalez started the sixth and was greeted by a 418-foot homer to left-center by Chris Carter, which gave Houston a 5-4 lead. A lead-off walk to Correa and an error on a backhanded shot to Mitch Moreland at first put Astros on the corners with no outs in the seventh. Evan Gattis’ sacrifice fly to center scored Correa to give the Astros a 6-4 lead. Sam Freeman replaced Gonzalez with a runner on to face the left-hitting Colby Rasmus and Rasmus belted a two-run homer to right to give Houston an 8-4 lead. Altuve hit his second homer off Luke Jackson in the eighth to make it 9-4.

Hitting: Mitch Moreland’s two-run opposite-field double scored Prince Fielder and Adrian Beltre with two outs in the first. Moreland scored on Rougned Odor’s single to give Texas a 3-0 lead. Shin-Soo Choo’s solo homer gave the Rangers a 4-1 lead in the third. In the fourth, Texas put together another two-out rally but with runners on the corners Bobby Wilson struck out. In the seventh, pinch-hitter Joey Gallo singled with one out and moved to second on Delino DeShields’ groundout to the mound. Astros’ starter Collin McHugh was replaced by Tony Sipp to face Choo. McHugh allowed four runs on eight hits and a walk in 6 2/3 innings. In the ninth, Texas rallied for three runs in the ninth to make it 9-7. Will Venable and DeShields singled with two outs, followed by an infield single by Shin-Soo Choo that scored Venable. Texas had two on with Fielder at the plate. Fielder singled down the first-base line to make it 9-7.

Notable: Correa’s two homers tied him with Lance Berkman for the Astros’ rookie record with 21 ... the 21 homers is the most ever by an Astros’ shortstop, eclipsing Dickie Thon’s record of 20 in 1983 ... Moreland had played 90 error-free games before making an error in the seventh Saturday ... the Rangers allowed more than four homers for the first time since the Indians hit five on June 9, 2014 ... the Astros hits six homers for the 10th time in franchise history ... it’s the sixth time the Rangers have allowed as many as six homers in a game and first since allowing seven on April 6, 2006 against the Tigers (R.A. Dickey allowed all six) ... Altuve’s collected his first-career multi-homer game ... Josh Hamilton went 1 for 4 with three strikeouts in his first start since August 15.

This story was originally published September 26, 2015 at 3:12 PM with the headline "Rangers recap: Astros even series with six-pack of homers."