Rangers winning homestand ends with loss to Astros

The Rangers lost the Sunday afternoon finale against the Astros but it won’t put a damper on the club’s rousing 10-game homestand.

Yu Darvish took the loss in the 7-6 defeat but Texas went 8-2 on the homestand and had won seven in a row until Sunday. The Rangers begins a 10-game road trip in Seattle on Monday and are 9 1/2 games up on second-place Houston.

Pitching: The Astros scored twice in the first, including on a lead-off homer by George Springer. Yu Darvish retired the side in the second, including two strikeouts and struck out Evan Gattis looking on a 70 mph curve to end the third. But the Astros struck for two more in the fourth on three hits and a walk. Darvish left after four innings and was charged with five runs on seven hits and three walks. he struck out four. It’s his shortest outing of the season. He went 4 1/3 in his first start back from the disabled list on July 16 against the Cubs after throwing 90 pitches. Darvish threw 80 on Sunday.

Nick Martinez took over to start the fifth and gave up a solo homer to Gattis to make it 6-2. Houston added another run in the seventh when George Springer walked with one out and scored on a potential double play ball. Jurickson Profar made a diving stop at shortstop but Rougned Odor fumbled the catch at second.

Hitting: Odor’s two-run homer in the fourth pulled Texas to within 5-2. The Rangers had two on later in the inning but Profar grounded out to end the inning. Astros starter Collin McHugh allowed five runs on seven hits and two walks over 4 1/3 innings.

The Rangers scored three times in the fifth after Nomar Mazara, Ian Desmond and Carlos Beltran started the inning with a single and two doubles. Odor drove in the third run with a single to right to pull Texas to within 6-5. Beltran and Adrian Beltre singled with one out in the seventh but Odor struck out and Correa charged Jonathan Lucroy’s slow roller and just got him with his throw to first. Desmond tripled to start the ninth and scored on Adrian Beltre’s groundout to pull the Rangers to within 7-6 but Ken Giles struck out Odor to close it out.

Notable: Darvish’s four innings are his shortest outing since Aug. 9, 2014 when he allowed five earned runs in four innings against the Astros before being shut down the rest of the season. He had Tommy John the next spring ... Springer’s lead-off homer is the 13th for the Astros ... Odor made his 20th error in the sixth, the most by a second baseman since 2002.

This story was originally published September 4, 2016 at 5:35 PM with the headline "Rangers winning homestand ends with loss to Astros."