Jake Burger’s solo homer powers Rangers to sixth straight win

ARLINGTON: Jake Burger’s solo home run in the sixth inning and a dominant eight-inning outing from Jacob deGrom powered the Texas Rangers to a narrow 1-0 victory over the Houston Astros at Globe Life Field on Thursday night.

DeGrom (4-1) was stellar, tossing eight scoreless innings while allowing just five hits and one walk. He struck out seven on 96 pitches in a vintage performance.

It marked the first time deGrom has pitched eight innings since April 23, 2021, when he threw a complete game shutout with 15 strikeouts for the New York Mets against the Washington Nationals.

Shawn Armstrong closed out the ninth for the Rangers, working around a two-out walk to earn his second save of the season.

Burger provided the game’s only run with a 394-foot solo shot into the Texas bullpen—his fourth home run of the season.

The Rangers are riding high on a six-game winning streak, while the Astros saw their two-game winning run snapped.

Houston starter Hunter Brown (6-2) was impressive despite the loss. The right-hander gave up only three hits, walked none, and struck out nine over eight innings. It was his fifth career game with nine or more strikeouts.

The Astros threatened in the second, fourth, and fifth innings, but deGrom ended each threat with key strikeouts—getting Jake Myers, Zach Dezenzo, and Jose Altuve to end those frames.

Brown was perfect through four innings before Adolis García led off the fifth with a double. He quickly bounced back, striking out Marcus Semien and Josh Jung before inducing a pop-up from Evan Carter to end the inning.

The series continues Friday, with Rangers right-hander Nathan Eovaldi set to face Astros veteran Lance McCullers Jr.