Yu Darvish on Monday night pitched seven solid innings and Nomar Mazara hit a three-run homer to give the Texas Rangers a 6-1 win over the Houston Astros.
Darvish (6-4) allowed one hit and one run with three walks. He induced a season-best 12 ground ball outs.
The Rangers went up 2-0 on back-to-back triples by Rougned Odor and Joey Gallo in the third inning.
The Astros got an RBI single by Alex Bregman in the fifth, but a run-scoring double by Adrian Beltre gave the Rangers some insurance in the sixth inning.
Mazara provided more cushion with his shot to straightaway center field off Dayan Diaz with two outs in the eighth to make it 6-1.
Houston starter Joe Musgrove (4-5) allowed five hits and two runs in 4-2/3 innings in his return from the disabled list. Musgrove had been out since May 26 with shoulder discomfort.
Jonathan Lucroy singled with two outs in the second inning and scored on the triple by Odor to put Texas up 1-0. Gallo followed with his triple to score Odor, but was tagged out at home to end the inning.
Right fielder Josh Reddick crashed into the wall trying to make a catch on the ball hit by Gallo and was taken out of the game to start the fourth inning. He was diagnosed with a mild concussion.
Darvish kept the Astros off balance all night. He retired the first seven before walking Bregman with one out in the third. Nori Aoki grounded into a force out that left Bregman out at second before Darvish retired George Springer to end that inning.
Carlos Beltran drew a walk to start the fifth, before the RBI single by Bregman that cut the lead to 2-1 with two outs in the inning. Bregman’s hit sailed into shallow left field, and Mazara charged in but was unable to make the catch.
Elvis Andrus walked with one out in the sixth and the Rangers pushed their lead to 3-1 when he scored on Beltre’s double. Andrus was zero for three with the walk to snap a 15-game hitting streak, which was the longest active streak in the majors.
The Astros, who have baseball’s best record, walked four times, but managed just two hits as they lost for the third time in four games.
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