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 After a bumpy start, Rodriguez twirled eight marvelous innings and
pitched the Texas Rangers to a 7-1 victory over the Houston Astros.
The Rangers (10-16) recorded consecutive wins for the first time
this season thanks largely to Rodriguez, a spring training castoff
of the Atlanta Braves. Rodriguez (1-1) signed a minor league
contract with Texas following his April 3 release and made his third
start for Texas.
He had little trouble with the Astros (18-9), for whom Rodriguez
spent seven-plus years starting with his 2005 debut. Rodriguez
retired the final 19 batters he faced and allowed three hits and one
walk over eight innings. He struck out eight and threw 104 pitches,
71 for strikes.
"I feel very, very comfortable on this mound," Rodriguez said.
"I had a good changeup and curveball. Located my fastball very well
tonight. That's the reason I got so many hitters out."
Spotted a 4-0 lead before he took the mound, Rodriguez surrendered a
one-out home run to third baseman Luis Valbuena in the first and hit
a rough patch an inning later.
After allowing a single to shortstop Marwin Gonzalez and a double to
catcher Jason Castro, Rodriguez walked left fielder Robbie Grossman
to load the bases with two outs. Astros second baseman Jose Altuve
sent a screaming line drive just foul down the line in left, and
Rodriguez recovered to induce a harmless grounder back to the mound.
Grossman represented the Astros' final baserunner. Rodriguez barely
broke a sweat over his final six innings of work, delivering a
pitching performance that so many in Houston were intimately
familiar with.
"He'd move the fastball around on you; he'd never double up any one
location with the fastball," Rangers manager Jeff Banister said. "He
didn't miss very often. He was able to regulate his fastball; he'd
go hard with it and then go soft with and at times he'd make you
chase. He'd throw the breaking ball at the bottom part of the strike
zone and out of the strike zone. That's classic Wandy right there."
Rangers first baseman Kyle Blanks finished 3-for-4 with two runs,
and shortstop Elvis Andrus went 2-for-3 and also scored twice.
The Astros lost by more than one run for the first time since a 6-3
setback to the Los Angeles Angels on April 17.
Houston right-hander Scott Feldman (2-3) allowed six runs on nine
hits and one walk with two strikeouts over three innings. It marked
his shortest outing of the season and the most earned runs he
allowed since the Oakland Athletics roughed him up for seven in an
8-1 decision on April 13.
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Designated hitter Prince Fielder delivered the first of two two-run
hits for Texas in the first inning, driving home right fielder
Shin-Soo Choo and Andrus with an opposite-field double to left
field. Three batters later, left fielder Carlos Peguero added a
two-run homer to right, his first on the season, scoring Blanks for
a 2-0 lead.
Seven Texas batters came to the plate against Feldman in the third.
Third baseman Adrian Beltre recorded the Rangers' fourth extra-base
hit, a run-scoring double to left that scored Andrus and bumped the
lead to 5-1. Center Carlos Corporan added a sacrifice fly that
scored Beltre and essentially spelled the end for Feldman.
"Tonight wasn't his night," Astros manager A.J. Hinch said.
"Warming up felt great," Feldman said. "Obviously pretty good vibe
around here with the team playing great. Then I just went out there
and did terrible. I've got to try to iron that out in between my
next start."
NOTES: Rangers CF Leonys Martin sat out and remains day-to-day after
spraining his left wrist in the fifth inning Monday. ... Major
League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred will meet with players from
the Rangers and Astros on Wednesday during his visit to Minute Maid
Park. Manfred, in his first year as commissioner, is in the midst of
visiting players and officials from all 30 clubs. ... The Astros
held an optional batting practice Tuesday -- a decision made in
advance by manager A.J. Hinch with the club in the midst of playing
games on 17 consecutive days. The Astros' next off day will come
Monday after a four-game road series against the Angels.
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