The Houston Astros kicked off their series against the Texas Rangers Friday night, and it honestly wasn't close. Houston routed Texas 11-2 to take over first place in the AL West.
Hunter Brown took the mound for Houston against Nathan Eovaldi, and the offense wasted no time getting to him. With the bases loaded in the second inning, Yordan Alvarez singled to left, scoring two runs to make it 3-0.
Cam Smith tripled in the fourth, and Jeremy Peña brought him home with a single, extending his hitting streak to 12 games and making it 4-0. Peña has quietly been one of the most locked-in hitters in baseball right now, and this was just another example of that.
Isaac Paredes and Christian Walker hit back-to-back home runs to open the fifth, Paredes' 15th of the season and Walker's 22nd, and just like that Houston was up 6-0. Back-to-back homers to start an inning is the kind of thing that changes a game's whole mood.
Texas finally got on the board in the sixth when Joc Pederson homered off Brown, cutting the lead to 6-1, and an RBI single made it 6-2 before the inning ended. Still, it never felt like enough.
Brown's night ended after 5 2/3 innings, having thrown 104 pitches, 70 for strikes, allowing two runs on six hits. A solid outing, and exactly the kind of length this rotation has needed all season.
Houston made sure the door stayed shut in the seventh. Yainer Diaz hit a solo homer, his eighth of the season, to kick off the scoring, and he was not done there. Peña doubled in two more runs, and Paredes added an RBI single, pushing the lead all the way to 10-2.
Diaz finished the night with four hits, tying a career high, in what was easily one of his best games of the year.
Final score: Astros 11, Rangers 2. The win moved Houston into first place in the AL West at 56-55, their ninth win in their last 10 games, and right now, this team looks like a completely different one than it did back in May.
Saturday night, Ronel Blanco takes on Jacob deGrom. A challenging matchup.
A series win would put real distance between Houston and Texas heading into August. It sets up Sunday's finale with the season series and division lead both in play.
