Rangers 2 - 3 Astros
Final
  for this game

Altuve's four-hit day helps Astros drop Rangers

Aug 31, 2014 - 11:49 PM Houston, TX (SportsNetwork.com) - Jose Altuve's single in the eighth capped a two-run rally that gave the Houston Astros a 3-2 win over the Texas Rangers in the finale of a four-game set.

With one out in the eighth and Houston trailing by a run, Matt Dominguez drove a homer out to left off Neal Cotts (2-8) to tie the game. Cotts then hit Jake Marisnick, who stole second, before getting Gregorio Petit to ground out.

Neftali Feliz came on to relieve Cotts, walked Robbie Grossman to put runners at the corners in front of Altuve. The MLB-batting leader laced the first pitch he saw into center that scored Marisnick. Chris Carter followed with a base hit up the middle, but Leonys Martin fired a strike to the plate to get Grossman at home for the final out of the inning.

"That's why he is the best hitter in baseball," Houston manager Bo Porter said of Altuve. "It's great to see him having the type of season that he is having. He got a pitch that he could handle and put a really nice swing on it there."

Jose Veras (3-0) got the win for a scoreless eighth and Chad Qualls tossed a 1-2-3 ninth to convert his 16th save of the season.

Altuve finished the contest 4-for-5 with two doubles to increase his league- leading batting average to .336. Dominguez had two RBI for the Astros, who took three of the four from Texas.

Alex Rios had an RBI and Ryan Rua knocked in his first major league run in the setback.

The Rangers opened the scoring in the first after Rios doubled and Rua drove him in two batters later.

Jason Castro doubled with one out in the second and hustled home on Dominguez's single later in the inning to tie the game at 1-1.

Texas took the lead on Rios' RBI single in the sixth that had Houston starter Dallas Keuchel on the hook for the loss until his offense backed him late.

Keuchel allowed two runs on five hits over seven innings in the no-decision, while his counterpart, Nick Martinez, surrendered one run on six hits and three walks over 5 1/3 innings.

"It's a team game, you want to see the team win," said Martinez. "There are always going to be some positives and negatives. I'm still going to study my outing today and take what I can from it."

Game Notes

Altuve, who extended his hitting streak to nine games, has four four-hit games this season ... Texas snapped its six-game winning streak in day games ... Keuchel went winless over six starts in August ... Elvis Andrus stole his 24th base of the season in the loss.






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