Ramos, Rangers bullpen keep Astros guessing and losing

The Texas Rangers’ offense might still need some tinkering, but the pitching staff performed as it had been drawn up Saturday night in Houston.

The Rangers got a quality start from left-hander Cesar Ramos, and the bullpen, which has performed shockingly below expectations through April and into May, finally flashed some dominance to hold the Houston Astros in check for a 2-1 victory at Minute Maid Park.

The Rangers have won 13 of the past 15 games against the Astros, including all five in 2016.

Ramos, making his second start as part of the regular rotation (and third overall in 2016), followed the lead of Friday’s starter, Colby Lewis, by keeping the Astros off-balance over six innings.

He allowed one run — a leadoff homer by Marwin Gonzalez in the third — but held the Astros to two hits and a walk while striking out four. The homer cut the Rangers’ lead to 2-1, but Ramos and the bullpen combined to hold Houston to only two more hits the final seven innings.

Matt Bush, Jake Diekman and Sam Dyson pitched the seventh, eighth and ninth innings. Among the three, only Bush had to work out of trouble. And even that came after he struck out the first two batters.

A walk to Evan Gattis and a single by Colby Rasmus gave the Astros runners on the corners, but Bush got Tyler White to ground out to end the inning. Bush surrendered his first hit in the major leagues after 4  1/3 innings (and four appearances, including Saturday).

“I felt like I came back and threw strikes,” Bush said. “The whole time I felt confident that I was going to get out of it.”

Diekman and Dyson pitched perfect eighth and ninth innings. Dyson earned his fourth save and second in as many nights as the team’s official closer.

After allowing a run in the ninth Friday night, Dyson retired the side on seven pitches Saturday. He retired Jose Altuve and George Springer on two pitches with comebackers to the mound, including jumping high above the mound to snag Altuve’s bouncer, which was headed for center field.

“He’s not going to be able to go any higher to catch the baseball,” Rangers manager Jeff Banister said. “I like how all of our guys out of the bullpen came in and threw strikes. Our starting pitching has been quality for us. If we can keep it manageable and get a lead, and our starter can turn it over the last three innings of the game, we feel comfortable with where we’re at.”

Ramos and the bullpen did the rest. Ramos said he tried to take advantage of the aggressive Astros’ bats the same way Colby Lewis did Friday.

“Oh, yeah, definitely. I feel like I’m a left-handed Colby,” Ramos said. “Just watching him pitch and the aggressive swings and they didn’t really make adjustments, they just kept with their game plan and Colby made his adjustments and went deep in the game.”

Ramos retired nine of the first 10 batters he faced. After a leadoff walk in the fifth he got a strikeout and 5-4-3 double play to end the inning.

“From the first inning they pretty much showed me they’re not up there to take any pitches, they’re up there to swing as hard as they can,” he said. “I just kept them off balance and guessing.”

This story was originally published May 21, 2016 at 10:42 PM with the headline "Ramos, Rangers bullpen keep Astros guessing and losing."