Subhechcha Ganguly 
Christian Walker and Yordan Alvarez belted solo home runs while Hunter Brown delivered six shutout innings, leading the Houston Astros to an 11-0 rout of the Texas Rangers on Saturday in Arlington. The victory evened the three-game series between the American League West rivals.
With the win, Houston maintained its 3 1/2-game lead over Seattle atop the AL West. The Rangers, meanwhile, slipped to five games back in the division and 1 1/2 behind the Mariners for the league’s final wild-card spot.
Brown outpitched Rangers ace Jacob deGrom, tossing six scoreless frames with eight strikeouts while allowing just four hits and three walks. Houston’s bullpen—Enyel De Los Santos, Jayden Murray, and Logan VanWey—combined to finish the shutout.
The Astros’ bats erupted for 15 hits, with Alvarez leading the way with three. Walker launched a 426-foot homer off deGrom in the third inning, while Alvarez added a 421-foot blast in the fifth. DeGrom gave up three runs on five hits over 5 1/3 innings before exiting with two runners on. Yainer Diaz immediately capitalized with an RBI double off reliever Cole Winn.
Houston broke the game open in the late innings. Walker, Alvarez, Jake Meyers, Diaz, Mauricio Dubon, and Ramon Urias all drove in runs as the Astros piled on eight runs across the final two frames.
The Rangers managed only four hits, none after the fifth inning, as Houston’s pitching staff dominated start to finish.
