Houston Astros vs Texas Rangers Match Player Stats On Sep 16, 2021

Carlos Correa keyed a seven-run fourth inning with a three-run home run as the Houston Astros rolled to a 12-1 victory over the Texas Rangers on Thursday in Arlington, Texas.

Houston (86-60) earned three wins in the four-game series.

The Astros sent 11 batters to the plate while producing their highest-scoring inning of the season. Alex Bregman finished the night with four RBIs, and Houston's Chas McCormick hit a two-run homer in the eighth inning.

Houston broke through in the fourth against Rangers rookie right-hander Glenn Otto (0-2), who twirled five shutout innings at the Astros during his major league debut on Aug. 27.

Otto blanked the Astros for the first three innings of his second start against them. In the fourth, Correa followed a leadoff single by Yuli Gurriel and a double from Kyle Tucker with a 442-foot blast to center field that spotted the Astros a 3-0 lead. It was Correa's 23rd homer of the year.

The Astros piled on from there, working three consecutive one-out walks to load the bases against Otto before Bregman delivered a two-run single. Yordan Alvarez followed with a run-scoring double that pushed the advantage to 6-0 and chased Otto.

Otto yielded seven runs on seven hits and four walks with three strikeouts over 3 1/3 innings.

Gurriel capped the outburst with a bloop single to center that scored Bregman, who added a two-run single in the sixth.

McCormick smacked his 12th homer in the Astros' three-run eighth. Correa, Gurriel, Tucker, Bregman and Jose Siri recorded two-hit games for Houston.

The ample run support enabled rookie right-hander Luis Garcia (11-7) to focus on throwing strikes. Garcia had his turn in the rotation bumped up one day after left-hander Framber Valdez, the scheduled starter for the series finale, was scratched due to a cut on his left index finger.

Garcia responded by allowing just one run on five hits and three walks with two strikeouts over 5 1/3 innings. He had allowed nine runs and 19 hits over his last three starts and 15 2/3 innings.

The Rangers' lone run came on a sixth-inning Willie Calhoun RBI groundout.

Houston outscored the Rangers 35-12 during the four-game set and finished 14-5 this season against Texas (54-92). The Astros maintained their seven-game lead over the second-place Oakland A's (79-67) in the American League West.

--Field Level Media