HOUSTON _ Derek Holland allowed five runs in 51/3 innings Wednesday night, but the Houston Astros needed a three-run eighth inning to hold off the Texas Rangers for an 8-4 victory that prevented a three-game sweep.
George Springer and Teoscar Hernandez homered off Holland in the first two innings for a 3-1 lead, and Houston scored two more in the sixth before Nomar Mazara hit a two-run homer in seventh and Jonathan Lucroy singled in a run in the eighth as the Rangers closed to 5-4.
But Alex Claudio, Tanner Scheppers and Jake Diekman allowed three runs in the eighth, and the Rangers' magic number held at 8.
The Rangers had only one baserunner from the third inning to the sixth and didn't have another ninth-inning push. They led 1-0 after the first inning as Ian Desmond reached in an infield single and scored as Carlos Beltran followed with a double. The only baserunner the Rangers had until the seventh was Carlos Gomez, who walked with two outs in the fifth. Jurickson Profar drew a one-out walk from Joe Musgrove in the seventh, and Mazara followed with his 18th homer of the season.
The Rangers closed to 5-4 in the eighth after Adrian Beltre passed Rafael Palmeiro on the career doubles list with No. 586. Pinch runner Delino DeShields scored two batters later on a single by Lucroy.
Holland allowed three runs in the first two innings before settling into a groove and pitching into the sixth inning. The first batter Holland faced, Springer, hit a towering leadoff homer to left field to quickly erase the Rangers' 1-0 lead. Two were out in the second when Hernandez connected for a two-run shot and a 3-1 lead. Holland, though, settled down after a leadoff single to Springer in the third, retiring nine straight Astros until Alex Bregman doubled to start the sixth. The Astros scored two in that inning, all charged to Holland after he allowed an RBI single to Yuli Gurriel. Jose Leclerc allowed one of the runners he inherited to score as the Astros went ahead 5-1. After a scoreless seventh, Claudio allowed one runner to reach in the eighth and Scheppers allowed three straight to reach in the Astros' three-run inning.
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