Desmond hits go-ahead single in 11th, Rangers beat Astros
HOUSTON (AP) — Ian Desmond hit a tiebreaking single in the 11th inning and the Texas Rangers got past Houston 5-3 Sunday, beating the Astros for the 11th time in 13 meetings this season.
Texas took two of three in the weekend series and extended its AL West lead to 7 1/2 games over the Astros.
Houston went 2-5 on its and has lost eight of its last 10 games.
After Shin-Soo Choo led off the 11th with a double, Desmond followed with a single against Chris Devenski (0-4). Rougned Odor later hit an RBI double.
Matt Bush (5-2) pitched the 10th, then struck out George Springer with runners on the corners in the 11th.
Texas starter Yu Darvish pitched seven shutout innings, striking out eight and giving up five hits.
Alex Bregman hit an RBI double, and Jose Altuve followed with an RBI single off Jeremy Jeffress to cut the Rangers' lead to 3-2 in the eighth.
Tony Kemp tied it in the ninth with a single off Sam Dyson that scored pinch-runner Carlos Gomez, who slid around Jonathan Lucroy's tag.
Lucroy put the Rangers ahead with an RBI double in the fifth. Jurickson Profar hit a two-run double off Ken Giles to extend the lead to 3-0 in the eighth.
Kemp had three hits after coming on as a pinch hitter in the eighth.
Joe Musgrove allowed one run on five hits in seven innings, striking out six in his first major league start. The right-hander threw 4 1/3 scoreless innings with eight strikeouts in relief in his debut Tuesday.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Rangers: OF Carlos Beltran was out of the lineup after leaving Saturday's game with a left quad contusion. He pinch-hit in the 10th and flied out to leave the bases loaded.
Astros: OF Colby Rasmus was put on the 15-day disabled list Sunday with a cyst in his right ear.
"It's been bothering him for a while," manager A.J. Hinch said. "Clearly, there are some things going on there that we need to look into further." Kemp was recalled from Triple-A Fresno. . IF Luis Valbuena (right hamstring strain) is progressing slowly and hasn't done any baseball activities, Hinch said.
UP NEXT
Rangers: LHP Cole Hamels (12-3) will start the first of a two-game series in Colorado on Monday. Hamels is second in the AL in ERA at 2.89 and has the lowest road ERA in the AL at 1.90 in 12 road starts.
Astros: RHP Collin McHugh (7-8) starts the first of four games in Minnesota on Monday. McHugh allowed a season-high three home runs in his last outing Wednesday against Toronto.