After taking two of three to get a series win over the Angels at home on Sunday, the Astros picked up a four-game series with the Rangers in Arlington to finish the season series on Monday. Houston ran away with it, punishing Texas' pitching along the way to a lopsided win.

Final Score: Astros 15, Rangers 1

Astros' Record: 84-59, first in the AL West

Winning Pitcher: Cristian Javier (4-1)

Losing Pitcher: Spencer Howard (0-4)

Houston blows it open early

The Astros poured it on against the Rangers early in this opener, getting multi-run innings in the first two innings. They went up 3-0 before Texas could get to the plate in the top of the first, putting two on base to set up an RBI ground-rule double by Yuli Gurriel, then later a two-RBI double by Carlos Correa. They extended that to a 7-0 advantage in the top of the second, with a two-RBI double by Jose Altuve and a two-run 401-foot homer by Yordan Alvarez, blowing it open.

Odorizzi exits with injury

Meanwhile, the Astros took a hit on the other side of the ball in the bottom of the second. After a scoreless first, Odorizzi ran to first to make a play for the first out of the second but would injure himself on the play, ultimately coming out as Cristian Javier would quickly enter from the bullpen. Javier did well to eat up some innings, despite allowing a run in the bottom of the third, making it through the fourth to hand it to Houston's next reliever.

Meanwhile, Houston kept scoring, taking advantage of a hit batter in the top of the third with a two-run homer by Jose Siri, his first in the majors to make it 9-0 before the Rangers got their run in the bottom half. After Phil Maton came in and tossed a scoreless bottom of the fifth, the Astros tacked on four more runs in the top of the sixth, two on a homer by Alex Bregman, then two more RBI for Siri, who provided a two-out single to give him four RBI on the night and extending the lead to 13-1.

Astros win big in Arlington

Maton stayed on the mound and provided a 1-2-3 bottom of the sixth, then in the top of the seventh, Yordan Alvarez would launch his 30th homer of the year, this one a 422-foot opposite-field bomb to make it 14-1. Blake Taylor was Houston's next reliever, retiring the Rangers in order in the bottom of the seventh.

Jose Siri struck again in the top of the eighth, getting his fourth hit, second homer, and fifth RBI of the night with a solo shot to extend the lead to fourteen runs. Brooks Raley took over out of the bullpen in the bottom of the inning, erasing a leadoff single to send the game to the final inning. In the bottom of the ninth, Yimi Garcia would end the lengthy, lopsided game as Houston would continue to reduce their magic number.

Up Next: The second of this four-game series will be another 7:05 PM Central start on Tuesday. Zack Greinke (11-5, 3.66 ERA) is slated to return from the COVID IL and make his first start since August 29th for the Astros, while Jordan Lyles (8-11, 5.43 ERA) will be on the mound for the Rangers.