Texas Rangers 3, Houston Astros 2

Rangers win their eighth straight in Houston.

HOUSTON — The Texas Rangers relied on timely hitting and stellar pitching for their eighth straight victory in Houston Wednesday night, defeating the Astros 3-2. The win was their second straight overall and improved Texas to 43-38, a game and a half ahead of the surging LA Angels for first place in the AL West.

Photo not provided by the Houston Astros, Texas Rangers

Pretty soon the Astros are going to start having to pay the Rangers rent money

Rangers starter Colby Lewis was nigh unhittable early on, cruising through the first six innings until allowing a pair of runs in the seventh. Lewis gave up just the two runs on six hits over six-plus innings, walking none while striking out six. Lewis improved to 7-7 on the year with a 4.32 ERA. Neftali Feliz got the final three outs for his 16th save.

Astros starter Brett Myers was not so lucky, giving up three runs over seven innings and falling to 3-7.

All three of Texas' runs came in the first three innings. Ian Kinsler started it off with a leadoff home run in the top of the first, Andres Blanco doubled in the next at-bat, and Adrian Beltre singled him in for an early 2-0 lead.

Later, in the top of the third, Kinsler appeared to have been hit by a pitch, but the umpire called a strike, causing Kinsler and Rangers manager Ron Washington to dispute the call. Later in the at-bat Kinsler took a pitch to deep left for his second home run of the game, and the eventual game-winning score. It was Kinsler's ninth multi-homer game of his career.