How James Harden's off-court actions are part of a bigger plan

ROCKETS ROUNDTABLE PRESENTED BY TEXAS STAR GRILL SHOP

James Harden has been in the news recently for a lot of positive reasons.

Harden was captured on video giving $10,000 to a family in the Bahamas, and his impact in Houston has been fantastic too with him donating $240,000 to the city of Houston to upgrade outdoor basketball courts.

ESPN 97.5's John Granato, Lance Zierlein, and Raheel Ramzanali discuss Harden's philanthropic gestures, and debate if having an ulterior motive for these actions even matters. Rockets Roundtable is presented by Texas Star Grill Shop.

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The Rangers beat the Astros, 7-3. Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images.

Wyatt Langford homered with a career-high tying four hits and Adolis García added a solo shot to lead the Texas Rangers to a 7-3 win over the Houston Astros on Friday night.

The Rangers jumped on Lance McCullers Jr. (2-4) early. There were two outs with the bases loaded in the first when Evan Carter’s single to right field knocked in a pair to put the Rangers up 2-0.

The AL West-leading Astros cut the deficit to 2-1 when Cam Smith scored on a groundout in the bottom of the inning.

García homered for a second straight game with one out in the third that made it 3-1. Carter walked with two outs before a single from Jake Burger. Jonah Heim’s double to right field scored them both to extend the lead to 5-1.

McCullers allowed six hits and five runs in three innings as Houston’s losing streak reached a season-high four games.

Langford’s blast came with two outs in the seventh to push the lead to 7-3.

Jack Leiter (5-6) yielded five hits and three runs while striking out six in 5 1/3 innings.

Christian Walker singled to open Houston’s fourth before Victor Caratini’s home run to right field got the Astros within 5-3.Burger was replaced in the middle of the sixth inning with discomfort in his left quad.

Houston’s top prospect, second baseman Brice Matthews, went 0 for 4 with with three strikeouts in his major league debut.

Key moment

Heim’s two RBI double in the third that pushed the lead to four.

Key stat

The Rangers forced McCullers to throw 36 pitches in the first inning.

Up next

Houston LHP Framber Valdez (10-4, 2.90 ERA) opposes RHP Jacob deGrom (9-2, 2.29) when the series continues Saturday.

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