Astros clinch final playoff spot despite loss to Rangers

ARLINGTON, Texas — Ryan Pressly had no interest in waiting to see if the Astros would get the help they needed to clinch the last spot in the expanded American League playoffs after the Houston reliever couldn’t finish it himself when he was a strike away.

The Los Angeles Dodgers pitched in anyway by beating the Angels to give Houston a franchise-record fourth straight trip to the postseason, and a shot at redemption after the offseason sign-stealing scandal that tarnished a 2017 World Series championship.

Joey Gallo’s run-scoring fielder’s choice in the 10th inning completed a 5-4 victory for Texas as the Rangers rallied from a run down in each of the last two innings Friday night, starting with Ronald Guzman’s two-out, two-strike solo homer off Pressly in the ninth.

“Who cares?” Pressly, who had his fourth blown save in 16 chances, said of staying up to see what happened with the Angels, before LA lost. “We’ve got to take care of business first.” Actually, they don’t. The Astros (29-29) just had to wait a couple of extra hours to wrap up second place in the AL West, which became official with the Angels’ 9-5 loss.

Now Houston can start planning for a wild-card matchup that could be against Oakland, which ended a three-year run atop the AL West for the defending AL champion.

Rangers 6, Astros 1

ARLINGTON, Texas — Jeff Mathis hit a tie-breaking, three-run home run in the seventh inning and Leody Taveras followed with a solo blast in a five-run inning as the Texas Rangers beat the playoff-bound Houston Astros 6-1 on Saturday night.

Mathis homered to left center, only his third of the season, against rookie Brandon Bielak (3-3) before Taveras hit his fourth off fellow rookie Andre Scrubb. Rougned Odor added a two-out RBI single.