(SportsRadio 610) - José Altuve homered on the first pitch of the game and Mauricio Dubón hit the go-ahead, two-run double in the sixth inning the help lead the Astros to a 5-3 victory Friday night against the AL West leading Texas Rangers.
This is a monumental series for both teams. The Rangers, coming off six straight losing seasons, now hold just a four-game lead over the Astros, who have won the division five of the past six years with a pair of World Series titles to go with it.
Houston relied on a rookie starter and four relievers to get them through the Rangers' lineup, which is third in all of baseball with a .800 OPS. The Astros' bullpen retired 12 of 13 Rangers hitters after rookie Ronel Blanco gave up three runs with four hits, four walks and a pair of homers in five innings.
Meanwhile, the Astros got five runs and seven hits off Rangers starter Jon Gray, who had his second straight rough outing after winning five straight starts.
Hunter Brown (6-4, 3.62 ERA), another right-handed rookie for Houston, faces Rangers right-hander Nathan Eovaldi (9-3, 2.82), a Houston-area native, in the second game of this four-game series.
Brown has yet to allow an earned run in 13 innings over two career starts against the Rangers. Eovaldi can become the second 10-game winner in the AL.
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