The Houston Astros know they are in for quite a fight to overtake their instate rivals to win another American League West title.
They won this round, even after blowing an eight-run lead.
Jose Abreu and Chas McCormick on Monday had back-to-back RBI doubles in the ninth inning in a wild 12-11 win for the second-placed Astros over the division-leading Texas Rangers to take three of four games in the series.
Photo: Jerome Miron-USA Today
“It gives us momentum. Obviously, we’ve got a long way to go,” said McCormick, who had the game-winning hit for the second consecutive day. “That team’s going to play better, too, so we have to come every day ready to play.”
Just past the halfway point of the season, the Astros (47-38) moved within three games of the division leaders. That is the closest they have been in a month after trailing by as many as six-and-a-half games.
“That’s huge,” Astros manager Dusty Baker said. “That’s what we wanted. We wanted three out of four, or all of them.”
The Rangers (50-35), in first place for all but one day this season, have lost 15 of their past 25 games. They have not had a winning season since their most recent division title in 2016 — Houston have since gone to four World Series, winning two of them, and won five of the six American League West titles.
“A lot of baseball left,” first-year Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said. “We keep fighting like that, and we’ll be fine... We have to put this series behind us. Very intense series, very intense game.”
Abreu and McCormick, whose three-run triple in the eighth inning on Sunday was the difference in a 5-3 win, also homered earlier for Houston.
Abreu’s three-run shot in the fourth made it 10-2.
Kyle Tucker, who hit Houston’s major league-best eighth grand slam in the second inning for a 6-0 lead, led off the ninth with a single against Rangers closer Will Smith (1-3), who had only his second blown save in 16 chances.
Abreu and McCormack then followed Alex Bregman’s deep flyout with their doubles.
Tucker’s fourth career grand slam with one out in the second chased Texas starter Martin Perez, who has given up 16 homers already after allowing only 11 during his All-Star season last year. That inning opened with McCormick and Yainer Diaz hitting back-to-back homers.
The Rangers had taken their only lead on Corey Seager’s sacrifice fly that made it 11-10 in the eighth, right after newly acquired reliever Aroldis Chapman pitched a perfect top of the inning.
Bryan Abreu (3-2), the fifth Houston pitcher, allowed that run in the eighth before Ryan Pressly worked the ninth for his 18th save in 21 tries.
Travis Jankowski had three hits and a career-high five RBIs for the Rangers. A three-run homer in the fourth broke his 153-game homer drought, then an inning later he had a two-run single in a four-run outburst that got them within 10-9.
All-Star right fielder Adolis Garcia’s 21st homer, a solo shot in the seventh, tied the game at 10-10. His 69th RBI putting him in the MLB lead at that point.
Leody Taveras, who scored on Seager’s sacrifice fly, hit a two-run homer in the third.
“We started off strong and they never backed down,” Tucker said. “We were able to find a way to get the win, so that’s all that really matters.”
Or as McCormick put it: “That was a grind.”
Elsewhere, the Brewers 8 tamed the Cubs 8-6, the Braves beat the Guardians 4-2, the Reds edged the Nationals 3-2, the Marlins mastered the Cardinals 5-4, the Yankees overcame the Orioles 6-3, the Padres downed the Angels 10-3, the Twins thrashed the Royals 8-4, the Mariners pipped the Giants 6-5 and the Dodgers sank the Pirates 5-2.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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