Jake Burger’s sixth inning solo home run was the difference in a dynamite pitchers’ duel as the Texas Rangers defeated the Houston Astros 1-0 on Thursday in the opener of a four-game series between the Lone Star State rivals in Arlington, Texas.
Starters Jacob deGrom for the Rangers and Hunter Brown for Houston were both on top of their games, with one pitch from Brown that Burger turned into a home run proving to be the difference.
deGrom (4-1) went eight innings, allowing five hits and a walk while striking out seven in a 96-pitch outing. It was the first time since April 23, 2021 that deGrom pitched at least eight full innings. In that game as a member of the Mets, he hurled a 15-strikeout complete game in a 6-0 win over Washington.
The Rangers defense helped aplenty, with Evan Carter making a five-star catch in center field and Adolis Garcia hauling in two four-star plays in right.
Shawn Armstrong pitched the ninth for the Rangers, allowing a two-out walk before earning his second save of the season.
Texas has won a season-best six consecutive games while the Astros had a two-game winning streak snapped.
Brown (6-2) was nearly as good, giving up only three hits and not walking a batter. He struck out nine (one off his career high) and extended his streak of at least nine strikeouts in a game to five.
The Astros threatened with two-out rallies in the second, fourth and fifth but deGrom squashed all three rallies with strikeouts of Jake Myers, Zach Dezenzo and Jose Altuve, respectively, to end the innings.
Brown did not allow a baserunner until Garcia’s leadoff double in the fifth. He responded by striking out Marcus Semien and Josh Jung and then coaxing a popout from Carter.
Burger opened the sixth with his blast over the right center field fence to stake the Rangers to a 1-0 lead. The homer ended Brown’s streak of 15 2/3 scoreless innings and was just the second home run allowed by Brown this season.
Houston outhit the Rangers 5-3, with Victor Caratini collecting two of those to lead the Astros.
