Díaz, Brantley help Astros take first series against Rangers

Rangers' starter Lance Lynn had a 1.93 ERA heading into today's game, second best in the American League and sixth best among all major league starters. After last night's game, which saw the Astros manage only three hits all game, and seeing that the Astros were sending ace Zack Greinke to the bump, it was projected to be an extremely low-scoring game.

Instead, the Astros dropped six runs on Lynn in what was easily his worst outing of the year en route to an 8-4 victory against Texas on Thursday afternoon.

The Astros hung four of those six runs charged to Lynn in the first inning, which got started by a Michael Brantley single, the team's third straight to start the inning. Aledmys Díaz, who was only recently activated from the injured list, capped off the inning with a three-run home run to capitalize an early four spot in the first.

That early lead was all Zack Greinke needed. He'd give up three runs during his start, but he'd strike out nine across six innings to maintain Houston's lead, battling through some tricky innings along the way.

And, as he tends to do, Greinke recorded a few humorous moments during his outing.

Texas managed to cut the lead to 5-3 midway through the sixth, but a Martín Maldonado opposite-field home run (a rarity for the pull-happy catcher) would push the lead back to six.

Michael Brantley, who had been killing the Rangers all series, would put the finishing touch on the game with a two-out, two run double that pushed Houston's lead to 8-4. He went 6-12 with nine RBIs throughout the entire series.

Blake Taylor shut the door in the ninth, completing the win. Zack Greinke earned his third win on the year, while the Astros handed Lance Lynn only his second loss of the year.

Houston improves to 21-15, two games behind the Oakland Athletics for best record in the American League West. Their next game will come on the road against the Los Angeles Angels tomorrow, kicking off an eleven game road trip on the west coast.