Clutch eighth inning secures sweep of Rangers

Photo courtesy of Eric Christian Smith/AP Photo

Hard to imagine a better weekend for the Astros.

A tight contest blew up in the eighth inning, as the Houston Astros rallied for four runs late to earn a 6-2 victory over their in-state and division rival Texas Rangers, securing a four-game sweep.

Lance Mccullers Jr., dueling with Texas ace Kyle Gibson, kept the game moving quickly early. While not at his sharpest, McCullers Jr. once again turned in another fantastic outing, going six scoreless innings with five strikeouts.

His final line was 6.0 IP, five hits, two walks, zero runs allowed, and six strikeouts. In his last five starts (33 IP), McCullers Jr. is averaging an ERA of 1.64, a WHIP of 1.00, and a K/BB of 36/13.

Unfortunately for the Astros, Kyle Gibson was on his game too. After surrendering a run early in the first inning, Gibson allowed only one baserunner in his next three innings, with that one runner only reaching on an error.

The Astros tagged Gibson for another run in the fifth inning, on an RBI groundout from Carlos Correa with the bases loaded, but Gibson would go on to pitch seven innings of two run baseball.

It wasn't a very good outlook either heading into the eighth inning -- after Andre Scrubb surrendered a two-run home run to David Dahl to knot the game at two, Rangers' reliever Joely Rodríguez entered the game for Texas. Rodríguez had not surrendered a run since April 17, his first appearance of the season.

However, the Astros got to work. José Altuve and Carlos Correa both reached on singles, and an Alex Bregman single loaded the bases for Yuli Gurriel, who looped a sacrifice fly into right field for an effective sac fly to put the Astros up one.

But that wouldn't be the end of it -- Chas McCormick, hitting for Yordan Álvarez in the lineup, came up with yet another clutch hit, lining an RBI single for two additional runs.

Another RBI single from Myles Straw pushed the lead to 6-2, and Enoli Paredes -- in his first appearance for the team since heading to the IL on April 9 -- threw a shutout inning in the ninth to secure the sweep.

Houston has won six games in a row, and went 8-2 on their homestand. They are 24-17, and have won three straight series.

The Astros will have an off day on Monday, before traveling to Oakland for their third series with the Athletics this season. Houston has won five of seven games against the A's. Cristian Javier will face Sean Manaea.

First pitch is scheduled for 8:40 PM CT.