After taking two of three from the Royals earlier in the week and benefiting from some losses by the A's to extend their division lead, the Astros entered Globe Life Field on Friday looking to continue to set themselves apart on top of the AL West. Despite going down four runs in the game, they would grab the comeback win to start the series.

Final Score: Astros 5, Rangers 4

Astros' Record: 76-52, first in the AL West

Winning Pitcher: Phil Maton (3-0)

Losing Pitcher: Brett Martin (3-4)

Odorizzi gives up two over five innings

After three scoreless innings, Jake Odorizzi allowed the first run of the game in the bottom of the fifth after a leadoff double scored later in the inning on an RBI single, putting the Rangers up 1-0. They doubled their lead in the next inning, getting a one-out solo homer in the bottom of the fifth to make it 2-0. Odorizzi would finish that frame, but Houston turned to their bullpen in the sixth, making his final line 5.0 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, 1 HR, 88 P.

Rangers extend their lead, but Houston battles back

Phil Maton was the first reliever out for the Astros, but he did not fare well in the bottom of the sixth, allowing the Rangers to push their lead to 4-0 on back-to-back two-out RBI doubles. Houston battled back in the top of the seventh, getting five runs on four hits, including a two-RBI double by Jake Meyers, a two-RBI single by Michael Brantley, and an RBI groundout by Yuli Gurriel, giving Houston their first lead of the night at 5-4.

Astros take the opener on the comeback win

Yimi Garcia was the next reliever out of the bullpen for Houston, and he worked around a one-out single for a scoreless inning. After a scoreless top of the eighth, Ryne Stanek took over on the mound, and he, too, erased a one-out single to maintain the one-run lead. That set up the save opportunity for Ryan Pressly, and despite allowing two singles, he would notch his 20th of the season with some solid defense behind him, finishing the win for the Astros and starting the series with a win.

Up Next: The middle game of this series will get started at 6:05 PM Central on Saturday. The pitching matchup is expected to be Framber Valdez (8-4, 2.94 ERA) for the Astros and Kolby Allard (3-10, 4.86 ERA) for the Rangers.