Tucker’s pinch HR lifts Astros over Texas in starters’

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Justin Verlander certainly noticed that Astros batters were being retired one after another. The two-time AL Cy Young Award winner was pretty impressive himself in only his fourth start since Tommy John surgery.

Kyle Tucker hit a tiebreaking pinch-hit homer in the eighth inning, providing the margin of victory for Verlander, and Houston beat Texas 3-2 on Thursday after Rangers left-hander Martin Perez took a perfect game into the seventh.

“They’re interesting when you’re in the middle of them. I mean, obviously always root for runs, but then all of a sudden you realize, three or four or five innings, I’m like, you know, he’s got it,” Verlander said. “So kind of knew we’d be in the middle of a pitching duel there . ... It was fun to come out on the right side of it.”

Tucker’s two-run blast came off Matt Bush (0-1), the first reliever for Texas after Perez retired the first 18 batters before giving up his only run and two hits in the seventh. Perez struck out four without a walk, with 55 of 76 pitches being strikes.

Verlander (2-0) struck out eight, also allowing one run over seven innings. The 39-year-old righthander, who retired 18 of the first 19 Texas batters, threw 64 of 91 pitches for strikes and didn’t have a walk while lowering his season ERA to 1.73.

“He was dealing, and he had been matched by their pitcher, too. He was dealing, both of them,” Astros manager Dusty Baker said, adding that Verlander’s curveball and slider were working well with his always-good fastball. “That was a classic pitcher’s duel. If you took a pitch, it was a strike, and if you swung at it, it wasn’t a good pitch to hit.”

Blake Taylor pitched a perfect eighth for the Astros. Rafael Montero then worked the ninth with usual closer Ryan Pressly still on the injured list and got his first save despite Corey Seager’s one-out homer to straightaway center.

Perez didn’t allow a runner until Chas McCormick lined a double into the rightcenter gap on a fullcount pitch leading off the seventh. The lefty got out two more batters out before Yordan Alvarez lined an opposite-field single to left to drive in McCormick.

“That was as good as I’ve seen a guy throw. He kept executing and executing,” Texas manager Chris Woodward said. “I thought he was going to throw a perfect game, frankly. He had the pitch count to do it. Everything was right there for him. McCormick just hit a pretty good pitch there. ... Obviously the guy on the other side is pretty good, has a pretty good track record.”

Before McCormick’s double, the closest the Astros had gotten to a hit was when Jose Siri had a one-out comebacker in the sixth that ricocheted off the pitcher. Perez scrambled off the mound and made a strong throw to first for a bang-bang play that was ruled out — and stood after a replay challenge by Houston.

Texas got even at 1 in the bottom of the seventh, when Adolis Garcia had a sacrifice fly to center after the Rangers loaded the bases with three consecutive one-out singles off Verlander. That included a checked swing from Mitch