Rangers Lose Lead Late; Fall To Astros 4-3
HOUSTON (AP/CBSDFW.COM) - The Texas Rangers got off to a great start Friday night against the Houston Astros then things fell apart late. They led in the first inning after a two-run homer by J.P. Arencibia, who's now hitting .250 with 7 home runs and 22 rbi since returning from Triple-A Round Rock on July 18th.
It took until the eighth inning for the lead to disappear in a 4-3 loss after another tough night by the bullpen.
Robbie Grossman's two-run homer gave the Astros the lead in the eighth as the Rangers fell to 6-34 when leading after seven innings. Their bullpen has blown 13 saves this season.
After Arencibia's homer in the first, Rangers starter Miles Mikolas was limited to just five innings, allowing four hits, a run and three walks as he struggled to get outs.
A resigned Texas manager Ron Washington repeated the same phrase multiple times in his office after the game. "They beat us," he said. "It was a tough ballgame. We put up two runs in the first inning and just couldn't get anything else."
Chris Carter hit his 25th home run for Houston, which trailed 2-1 entering the eighth inning. Jon Singleton singled with no outs and Grossman, who finished with three hits, launched a 92 mph fastball from Neal Cotts (2-6) into the Crawford Boxes in left field with one out to put the Astros on top. Cotts had only allowed three earned runs over his last 14 games entering Friday's game.
"They beat our best pitcher that we had in that situation, so you've got to give them credit," Washington said. "They beat us." Gregorio Petit's double with two outs added an insurance run.
Jose Veras (2-1) threw a perfect eighth for the win. Chad Qualls allowed a run in the ninth and there were runners at first and second with one out when Daniel Robertson grounded into a double play to end the game and give Qualls his 13th save.
The win extends Houston's streak over the Rangers to six games, the longest in franchise history. The Astros are 7-3 against Texas this season and remain ahead of the last-place Rangers in the AL West.
Carter cut the deficit to one with his two-out shot in the fifth. "I was kind of hoping it might hit the rafters and fall in for a double," Mikolas joked. "I'm not sure what the ruling on that is, but he got it up there." Carter, who homered twice Thursday night, has 12 home runs since July 4 and has upped his batting average from .181 to .225 since July 1.
Houston starter Brett Oberholtzer allowed six hits and two runs in seven innings. Houston second baseman Jose Altuve left the game with discomfort in his neck. Altuve didn't appear to be injured when he batted in the fifth inning, but was replaced by Petit for the start of the sixth. He said after the game that he thinks he may have slept on it wrong and expects to be back in the lineup on Saturday.
(©2014 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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