Texas Rangers’ narrow win over Houston Astros comes with huge sigh of relief

HOUSTON — Yordan Alvarez knocked one of them out. Of course he did.

Texas Rangers right-handed reliever David Robertson threw him a low curveball — a very, very good pitch, in Robertson’s estimation — and the intimidating Houston Astros designated hitter launched it 401 feet into the deepest part of Minute Maid Park.

For an outing.

Robertson saw center fielder Leody Taveras drop back and catch Alvarez’s ball (which would have been a home run in more than half the ballparks in the league) for the first out of the eighth inning of a tie game. He turned his head to Rangers catcher Jonah Heim and shrugged.

“I got lucky,” Robertson said. “He didn’t catch the ball clean enough.”

That was all the Rangers needed to pull out a 2-1 victory Saturday in 10 innings, with a lot going right and a lot going wrong. Alvarez was scary when he hit that ball, but it didn’t matter. The Rangers, at more than one point, looked like they were on the wrong side of fortune, but it didn’t matter.

All that Really The important thing is for the Rangers to string together wins, win a few series and close the gap on the AL West leaders heading into the All-Star break and work to salvage the season before it’s too late. The little details don’t matter as long as they can lead to a win.

Somehow, Saturday’s details worked out. The Rangers scored a run on the first pitch of the game when leadoff hitter Marcus Semien sent a Spencer Arrighetti fastball into the Crawford Boxes, but they didn’t register another hit until the top of the sixth inning. They drew a season-high nine walks, but none scored. They loaded the bases for three straight innings — the sixth, seventh and eighth — and were shut out in each of those innings. The game-winning hit came from a guy who was 0-for-14.

“I got myself out there. I feel like I tried to do more,” said first baseman Nathaniel Lowe, who singled on a changeup by Tayler Scott out of the zone in the top of the 10th inning to score ghost runner Josh Smith and give the Rangers a commanding lead. “You see the All-Star guys doing their job, and there’s a lot of guys around the league having success. You feel like the trend is going to change a little bit.”

The Rangers lost their series opener Friday night. That turned Saturday, even though there were signs that it shouldn’t have happened. With Max Scherzer on the mound for the final game of the first half on Sunday, the Rangers can head into the All-Star break with considerable momentum.

One game at a time. Saturday’s details are worth remembering.

It started with Semien’s fifth home run of the season on Arrighetti’s first pitch. It ended with All-Star closer Kirby Yates striking out Houston’s Yainer Diaz on three pitches in the bottom of the 10th inning and making an emotional fist-pumping gesture after his 15th save of the season.

And in between? Texas starting pitcher Nathan Eovaldi pitched seven innings of one-run play and left the bases loaded twice. Four plays were reviewed and three were called. An Astros player was ejected. The bullpen got the team back on track once again.

“It’s an intense game,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said. “You can’t escape it.”

That’s what you’d expect when the Rangers and Astros face off. Together, they’ve won the last two World Series. They played a seven-game series in last year’s American League Championship Series. Both are trying to catch the Seattle Mariners, who are in first place in the American League West. The Rangers are six and a half games behind, and the Astros are a game and a half behind.

Yeah, intense. The moments matched the mood, too. The Astros tied the score immediately after Semien’s home run in the bottom of the first inning when Alex Bregman, Alvarez and Diaz hit three straight singles off Eovaldi.

Jon Singleton also singled to load the bases before Jeremy Peña hit and missed Eovaldi’s fastball for strike three. Rangers catcher Jonah Heim was initially called for catcher’s interference, Peña got first base and Alvarez was about to score and give Houston the lead. A replay showed Heim did not interfere with Peña’s bat, but the call was reversed and Peña was pulled.

“It was huge,” Bochy said. “That’s why we have a replay now to get it right.”

He might have had a different opinion of the system in the sixth inning when, with the bases loaded and two outs in a tied game, Lowe hit a ground ball to Singleton at first base and was initially ruled out on an infield single that scored two runs (one directly from Lowe’s hit and another on an errant pitch). Upon review, however, Lowe was ruled out after replay showed that Arrighetti (who received Singleton’s ball) reached the bag just before Lowe.

“I found myself in a difficult situation, so I ran like crazy to get out of it,” Lowe said. “I was beaten.”

And — because this game wasn’t already dramatic enough — Lowe was on the field when Mauricio Dubón hit a two-out ground ball to shortstop Corey Seager, who threw a barehanded throw to first base to throw out Dubón and send the game into extra innings. The Astros challenged the call, the call stood, and Dubón (who had to be pinned to the steps of the Astros’ dugout) was ejected.

“Another masterstroke,” Lowe said. “He hit my glove first, then he hit the base. They sent the ball to replay, and they called him out, so he’s out.”

It was the sixth out Robertson (who has a 2.88 ERA in 40 1/3 innings pitched, a team-best total this season) recorded in relief of Eovaldi. Yates (an All-Star with a 0.81 ERA) pitched the 10th inning and needed just two pitches to retire Jose Altuve and Bregman before the Rangers intentionally walked Alvarez to get to Diaz.

“They both did a remarkable job,” Eovaldi said. “They were able to help us in difficult situations.”

Saturday’s was one of the most important.

In several ways.

“We had to win this game, for sure,” Eovaldi said. “We also have to win tomorrow’s series.”

Twitter: @McFarland_Shawn

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