Astros take game one of three against Rangers

Astros daily report presented by APG&E: Astros 7, Rangers 2

Astros daily report presented by APG&E: Astros 7, Rangers 2
Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images

After having their winning streak snapped on Wednesday night, the Astros had a day off to regroup before starting the weekend series with the Rangers in Arlington. Here's how Friday night's game went:

Final Score: Astros 7, Rangers 2

Record: 13-6, first in the AL West.

Winning pitcher: Justin Verlander (3-0).

Losing pitcher: Drew Smyly (0-2).

Star of the game: Though there was plenty of offense to go around for the Astros, Justin Verlander delivered a great performance on the mound, allowing just one run on three hits and three walks to go along with his eight strikeouts over his seven innings and 107 pitches. The win moved him to 3-0 on the year.

Notes: After being held to one run on Wednesday night in Oakland, the Astros were on fire to start the game on Friday, getting a leadoff double from George Springer to set up Jose Altuve for a two-run homer, followed by Alex Bregman who made it back-to-back jacks to put Houston ahead 3-0 before Drew Smyly could record an out. Altuve struck again in the next inning, getting a two-out RBI-single to extend the lead to 4-0. That score held until the top of the fifth when Michael Brantley led the inning off with a double before Carlos Correa and Yuli Gurriel hit back-to-back RBI-doubles, then later George Springer hit what looked to be a home run but was instead ruled the third RBI-double of the inning, extending Houston's lead to 7-0. After being held scoreless through the first five innings, the Rangers did finally get on the board in the bottom of the sixth on a solo home run off of Justin Verlander, but Verlander would still go on to post a great line with his seven innings pitched. Chris Devenski took over in the eighth, getting a quick scoreless inning before Reymin Guduan came in for the ninth. Guduan allowed a towering one-out solo home run to the Rangers then walked the next batter, ending his appearance to bring in Josh James who was able to notch the last two outs to wrap up the win.

Up Next: The second of three games in this series will get underway at 7:05 PM on Saturday night. Houston will send Gerrit Cole (1-2, 3.24 ERA) to the mound to face Adrian Sampson (0-1, 5.93 ERA) for the Rangers.

The Astros daily report is presented by APG&E.

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Both Astros catchers are banged up. Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images.

The Houston Astros placed catcher Victor Caratini on the concussion injured list on Wednesday, putting the AL West leaders in a bind behind the plate.

Yainer Diaz, another Houston catcher, is day to day with a left wrist injury. He was hit by an errant pitch from Craig Kimbrel while catching in the eighth inning of Sunday’s 3-2 loss at Baltimore.

The Astros recalled catcher César Salazar from Triple-A Sugar Land, and he got the start for Wednesday night’s game against Colorado.

Caratini took a foul ball off the mask during the ninth inning of Tuesday’s 6-1 loss to the Colorado Rockies. Caratini is batting .262 with a career-high 43 RBIs, while matching his career high with 11 homers in 95 games this season.

Diaz is batting .257 with 18 homers and 55 RBIs in 116 games this season.

Yainer is getting another day off as Salazar is starting the finale against the Rockies.

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