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 Not exactly the position the Texas Rangers closer wanted to be in.
"Not at all," Tolleson said. "I never try to make things
interesting. That's not my job."
What followed qualified as a save in every sense of the word, as
Tolleson shut down Houston to preserve a 4-3 victory that lifted
Texas back to .500 for the first time in a month.
The Rangers (53-53) won for the sixth time in seven game and their
third straight, including the first two of the three-game series
against their Lone Star State rivals. Texas, two games back of the
Toronto Blue Jays for the second American League wild-card spot, was
last at breakeven on July 4.
"Five-hundred is not where we want to be," Rangers manager Jeff
Banister said. "It's just a number that we got to get to, to go
where we want to go."
Rangers designated hitter Prince Fielder homered, and starter Yovani
Gallardo (8-9) picked up the win after not having one in July. Left
fielder Josh Hamilton and second baseman Rougned Odor each had two
hits and an RBI.
Houston (60-48) continues to lead the AL West despite dropping seven
of 11 games against Texas this season. The Astros are 11-6 since the
All-Star break.
The third game of the series, which also ends Texas' 10-game
homestand, will be played Wednesday night.
Center fielder Carlos Gomez knocked in two runs for Houston, the
second coming on his first homer with his new team, leading off the
sixth. The blast to left cut the Rangers' lead to 4-3, and Gallardo
was pulled one batter later after walking shortstop Carlos Correa.
"The sixth and ninth we had opportunities," Houston manager A.J.
Hinch said. "We just didn't do anything with them."
The Texas bullpen took over from there, throwing four scoreless
innings and allowing just two hits.
"The bullpen was awesome tonight," Tolleson said. "I can't say
enough about how those guys did. For us to go out and shut them down
like that was pretty awesome."
Still, the Rangers were on the brink of blowing the game in the
ninth. Houston third baseman Luis Valbuena's single put right
fielder Colby Rasmus 90 feet from tying the game with no outs.
Gomez grounded out sharply to first before Tolleson struck out
catcher Jason Castro and second baseman Jose Altuve to record his
20th save of the season.
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"It's a comfort to know that you have a pitcher on the mound that
doesn't really get rattled," Banister said. "He's shown all year
long that he's in control of the moment, and he's got pitches and
he's got command. I felt comfortable even in the first-and-third
situation that he was going to make quality pitches."
The Astros got on the board in the second, taking advantage of a
two-out walk by Gallardo. Rasmus worked the bases on balls, stole
second and scored on Valbuena's single to right.
Houston tacked another run up in the third. Altuve singled and came
home on Gomez's drive into the left-center-field gap that Hamilton
couldn't run down.
Fielder cut Houston's lead in half in the fourth by hammering a solo
shot off Astros starter Dan Straily. Fielder's 16th homer ricocheted
off the second deck.
The Rangers took their first lead in the fifth, going up 4-2 and
chasing Straily (0-1). Center fielder Delino DeShields' triple and
singles by Odor and Hamilton drove in the three runs.
NOTES: Texas optioned OF Leonys Martin to Triple-A Round Rock on
Tuesday and called up OF Ryan Strausborger from the same club.
Strausborger, 27, hit .278/329/.438 with 10 homers, 34 RBIs and 27
stolen bases in 86 games for Round Rock. ... Houston recalled RHP
Dan Straily from Triple-A Fresno to start Tuesday night. RHP Lance
McCullers was optioned to Double-A Corpus Christi. ... LHP Wandy
Rodriguez was placed on unconditional release waivers by the
Rangers. If he is not claimed, he would become a free agent
Thursday. Rodriguez was designated for assignment July 29 after
going 6-4 with a 4.90 ERA in 17 games (14 starts). ... Texas has
used 51 players this season, which is the most in the American
League and trails only Atlanta (52) in the majors.
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