Astros complete a sweep of the Rangers
Astros daily report presented by APG&E: 3 hits from the 5-3 win
With both the weekend series and season series locked up, the Astros were going for a sweep of this three-game set on Sunday. Here is how the finale unfolded:
Final Score: Astros 5, Rangers 3.
Record: 64-37, first in the AL West.
Winning pitcher: Rogelio Armenteros (1-0, 1.93 ERA).
Losing pitcher: Lance Lynn (12-6, 3.93 ERA).
1) Brantley starts things with a bang
Houston wasted no time getting on the board on Sunday. With Springer receiving the day off, everyone else shifted up a spot in the order.
This put Alex Bregman second in the lineup, and he worked a one-out walk, bringing up Michael Brantley in the top of the first. He turned around the first pitch he saw, hitting it into Houston's bullpen for the quick 2-0 lead.
After the Rangers cut the lead to one run in the third, the Astros put together a big fifth inning to extend their lead. It started with a two-out opposite-field solo home run by Jose Altuve to make it a two-run lead again at 3-1.
They continued to fight with two outs, getting a single and a walk to set up an RBI-single by Yordan Alvarez to extend the lead to 4-1.
Brantley struck again in the bottom of the eighth, launching his second homer of the day into the upper deck in right field. That added an insurance run, extending the lead to 5-2.
2) Armenteros goes five one-run innings
Rogelio Armenteros did well in his first official start on Sunday. He had only one bad inning, giving up a walk and a couple of hits in the third to allow his only run of the day.
Other than that, he was able to get through five innings, but with his pitch count at 91 was not asked to go any further.
Armenteros’ final line: 5 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, 0 HR.
3) Closing out the sweep
With Armenteros' day done after five innings, Josh James took over on the mound to start the sixth. He would get two outs in before allowing a solo home run to make it a 4-2 game and prompting the call for Collin McHugh.
McHugh would get the final out of the sixth as well as a scoreless seventh. Will Harris was next out of the bullpen, and he was able to work around a couple of hits for a scoreless inning.
Roberto Osuna came in to close things out in the ninth and did so, despite allowing a one-out solo home run, to complete the sweep.
Up Next: With this series over, the Astros will continue this homestand tomorrow with the first of three games against the A's. Monday's game is slated for a 7:10 PM start, and the pitching matchup is expected to be newly-acquired Homer Bailey (8-6, 4.69 ERA) for his new team, Oakland, going against the surging Gerrit Cole (10-5, 3.12 ERA) for Houston who has not recorded a loss since May 22nd.
The Astros daily report is presented by APG&E.
