This victory calls for a celebration
Altuve provides telling blow with 2-run double in seventh as one-sided intrastate series finally takes a different turn
ARLINGTON — Techno music blared from the speakers connected to George Springer’s iPad as the clubhouse opened to reporters Wednesday night. For the first time in a long while, especially in this ballpark, the Astros celebrated a victory over their intrastate rivals.
Their 3-1 victory over the Texas Rangers was their first in nine tries this season against the American League West front-runners. It snapped a 12-game losing streak at Globe Life Park, where the Astros hadn’t won since April 12, 2015.
“If you look at it statistically, every game is the same. Obviously, you want to win every one of them,” Astros starter Doug Fister said. “But for us today, it was definitely an emotional win.”
Jose Altuve’s two-run double in the seventh inning provided the winning margin. After Marwin Gonzalez and George Springer singled to open the frame, the Astros’ second baseman ripped Tom Wilhelmsen’s first-pitch sinker down the thirdbase line for his 21st double of an MVP-caliber first two months of the season.
“This is another win for us,” said Altuve, downplaying any extra significance against Texas. “We try to not pay attention to the noise about the way we play against the Rangers. Wins are always important. At the end of the day, no matter who you’re playing you’ve got to get the win.”
Fister, the Astros’ best pitcher through 61
games, set the tone and was rewarded with a team win for his eighth consecutive start. The 6-8 sinkerballer scattered seven hits over six innings, the Rangers’ lone score coming in the third inning on an Ian Desmond groundout. Pat Neshek induced a crucial double-play grounder in the eighth, and Will Harris closed out the ninth.
The first 12 starts of Fister’s one-year, $7 million deal have yielded a 3.34 ERA. Only once in his last 10 starts has the veteran righthander failed to complete at least six innings.
“A lot of it just is really keeping the ball down,” he said. “I’ve struggled with that in the past, and that’s kind of been of a focus in the bullpens and especially executing in the game. But having the defense that we do that allows me to go ahead and pitch down and try and get those ground balls and really let those guys run them down.”
Darvish exits early
Offensively, the Astros were fortunate to face Yu Darvish for only five innings. The Japanese righthander was removed early from his third start since returning from Tommy John surgery as a precaution after feeling tightness in his pitching shoulder. No issues were found after an examination by the Rangers’ doctor, according to the team.
“Any time a player comes off the field, there’s concern,” Rangers manager Jeff Banister said. “I’m not going to overplay it or underplay it in any direction until we get a read on it.”
Darvish threw only 76 pitches before his exit, limiting the Astros to three hits. The lone run he surrendered came on the third pitch he threw, which Springer crushed into the left-field seats for a leadoff home run.
Darvish issued four walks, doubling his total from his first two starts combined, but the Astros failed to cash in. He struck out seven, including Springer in the fifth on a looping 63 mph curveball after which he was shaking his arm in apparent discomfort.
After Darvish walked Altuve, pitching coach Doug Brocail, a Rangers’ trainer and an interpreter visited the mound. Darvish tossed two warmup pitches to prove he could finish the frame. Carlos Correa lined out to deep right field to end the threetime All-Star’s night.
Michael Feliz logged a scoreless seventh for the Astros before giving way to Tony Sipp. After singles by Nomar Mazara and Prince Fielder, manager A.J. Hinch replaced the lefty with righthanded specialist Pat Neshek to face Elvis Andrus, who grounded an 0-2 slider into an inningending double play.
Harris ‘pretty electric’
In the ninth, Harris worked around a one-out single by Jared Hoying in his 26th consecutive scoreless appearance. His streak spans 261⁄3 innings, the longest in the majors this season. He lowered his ERA to 0.32. More than two months have elapsed since he last surrendered a run.
The save was Harris’ second in as many opportunities since Luke Gregerson was removed from the closer’s role Sunday.
“It didn’t matter what spot I put him in, whether it was the bases-loaded seventh-inning spot or an eighth-inning role or now his last two ninth innings have been pretty impressive,” Hinch said of Harris. “It’s a comforting feeling with him on the mound, as calm as he is.
“He’s in control of his stuff and certainly the stuff he throws to the hitter is pretty electric.”