Texas Rangers undone by mistakes as Houston Astros win crucial series opener

HOUSTON — When you’re seven games behind and third in the American League West, head-to-head matchups with the teams ahead of you take on added importance.

That’s what the Texas Rangers faced as they opened a crucial three-game series with the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park.

In Friday night’s opener, the Rangers buckled under pressure, committing two errors, throwing out 10 times and turning two double plays in a 6-3 loss.

It’s the Rangers’ first multiple-error game since committing four in Philadelphia on May 22, and just their sixth multiple-error game this season.

The errors also came from the reliable left side of the infield. Shortstop Corey Seager hadn’t made an error since that game against the Phillies. Third baseman Josh Smith had made a last error on June 4. Both players made crucial errors that led to the Astros scoring runs Friday night.

Seager failed to catch Mauricio Dubon’s short-hopping catch to start the third inning. Dubon then scored on a single by Yordan Alvarez to Seager, who was throwing to first base late. Dubon raced home and scored easily when Seager threw to first base to give Houston a 1-0 lead.

After the Rangers cut the Astros’ lead to 3-2 on Seager’s two-run home run in the sixth inning, a two-out walk and a throwing error to first base on a slow roller to Smith set up Jose Altuve’s three-run home run.

Andrew Heaney held the Astros to three runs (two earned) on five hits and two walks in five innings. His only errors were solo home runs against Jake Meyers in the fourth and Alex Bregman in the fifth. He had five strikeouts.

Marcus Semien went 3-for-3 with a walk and a run to continue his record-setting pace at Minute Maid Park. Semien has 23 consecutive hits at MMP dating back to May 7, 2021. He tied Joey Votto for the longest hitting streak by an opponent in MMP history. He has eight games with three or more hits this season, a team high. He has six consecutive walks, one shy of his career-long streak set May 3-10, 2019 with Toronto.

Right-hander Nathan Eovaldi (6-3, 3.10 ERA) will face Astros right-hander Spencer Arrighetti (4-7, 5.96 ERA) in Game 2 at 3:05 p.m. Saturday.

You can follow Stefan Stevenson on X @StefanVersusTex.

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