The Houston Astros and Texas Rangers were playing the rubber match of a three-game series in Houston with the Astros needing a win to keep their lead in the AL Wild Card race.
Houston starter Dallas Keuchel has 14 wins at home in 2015 and Sunday afternoon was another example of his dominance at home. He gave up one run right off of the bat in the first inning, but after that, he settled in and dominated. Keuchel lasted seven innings, giving up one run on two hits while striking out 10 and walking two.
The Rangers' only run against Keuchel came in the first inning when Prince Fielder knocked in Shin-Soo Choo on a fielder's choice, but Texas was silenced until Keuchel's day was done.
As for the Astros offense, they got a big two-out, two-run double with the bases loaded by Jake Marisnick in the bottom of the second scoring Chris Carter and Marwin Gonzalez to give Houston a 2-1 lead. This swung the momentum of the game and the Astros didn't look back after this clutch hit.
Martin Perez got the start for Texas Sunday in Houston and turned in a solid outing. He went five innings, giving up two runs (0 ER) on five hits while striking out six and walking one. He kept his team in the game, but was outdueled by Keuchel.
The Astros tacked another one in the seventh inning when Chris Carter smashed his 22nd home run of the season to give his side a 3-1 lead and some insurance run.
Texas made it interesting in the eighth inning when Delino DeShields grounded out, forcing in a run to make it 3-2, but Texas couldn't string anything together all day as they had just five total base runners.
Houston made it 4-2 in the bottom half of the eighth when Carlos Gomez came across to score on a wild pitch by Rangers reliever Sam Dyson.
In the ninth inning, Luke Gregerson came on to get the save and had an easy 1-2-3 inning to preserve the win. It was his 29th save of the season.
With the win by the Astros, they keep their lead in the AL Wild Card over the Twins and Angels. The Angels are just 0.5 GB of Houston after their win against Seattle while Minnesota is 1.5 GB.
In addition, Dallas Keuchel moved his home record to 15-0 and will have a chance to reach 20 wins with one more start this regular season. They will travel up to Seattle to face the Mariners for a three-game series before finishing their regular season slate against the Diamondbacks.
The Rangers still hold a 2.5 game lead over the Astros with one week left in the season and will return home to face the Tigers. They will finish up the season next weekend against the Angels.
WP: Dallas Keuchel (19-8, 2.47 ERA)
LP: Martin Perez (3-6, 4.77 ERA)
SV: Luke Gregerson (29 saves, 3.24 ERA)