Texas Rangers vs Houston Astros Match Player Stats On Jul 28, 2018

Rougned Odor recorded his ninth career multi-homer game while Ariel Jurado delivered a surprisingly effective start as the visiting Texas Rangers claimed a 7-3 win over the scuffling Houston Astros on Saturday at Minute Maid Park.

A half-inning after Houston pulled even at 1-all, Odor put Texas ahead to stay with an inside-the-park home run off Astros starter Justin Verlander in the fifth inning. Odor drilled a 3-1 fastball 402 feet to center field, with Astros center fielder George Springer just missing a leaping catch. The ball caromed off the wall and away from right fielder Josh Reddick, allowing Odor to round the bases and score ahead of the relay throw from shortstop Alex Bregman.

For Odor, it was his first career inside-the-park homer, the 28th in franchise history and the first for the Rangers since Delino DeShields accomplished the feat against Astros left-hander Dallas Keuchel on Sept. 26, 2017.

Odor led off the seventh inning with a conventional dinger, blasting his ninth of the season to right off debuting Astros right-hander Ryan Pressly for a 3-1 lead.

Odor finished 5-for-5 with three runs scored and two RBIs. His five hits were a career high and represented the first five-hit game for Texas since Elvis Andrus on May 18, 2013, against Detroit.

The Rangers clubbed their fourth home run of the game in the ninth when Joey Gallo produced a three-run blast off Houston closer Hector Rondon that cleared the Astros bullpen in right-center field. For Gallo, it was his 26th homer on the season.

Rangers catcher Isiah Kiner-Falefa gave Texas a 1-0 lead with his two-out homer to left field off Verlander in the second inning.

Like Keuchel in the series opener, Verlander did not last past the fifth. The Rangers recorded 20 foul balls against him and also posted nine hits. Verlander (10-6) allowed two runs while posting seven strikeouts against one walk. His first strikeout of the game was the 2,600th of his sterling career.

Jurado (1-1) allowed only two hits and one run in his second career start. That tally came in the fourth, when Springer launched a 434-foot leadoff homer to left-center for his 18th on the season. The Astros have managed just five hits against their last three opposing starters.

Bregman added a two-run blast for the Astros, his 22nd, in the ninth.

--Field Level Media