ARLINGTON, Texas _ By every measure the Texas Rangers' 10-game home stand was a rousing success even before they suited up against the Houston Astros for Sunday's finale.
The Rangers' 7-6 loss Sunday at Globe Life Park barely measures as a ripple in the large scheme of things in 2016.
Why?
Because the Rangers embark on their last 10-game road trip of the season with a 9 { game lead over the Astros in the American League West after winning three of four against the AL Central-leading Cleveland Indians, sweeping the Seattle Mariners into third place and taking two of three from the Astros, who needed a sweep to seriously maintain hopes of winning the West. Instead, the Rangers, at 82-55, after the best record in the AL with 25 games to go. It matches the best record after 137 games set in 2012.
Texas' American League-leading 82-55 record matches the franchise-best 2012 mark after 137 games. That year didn't end all that well. The Rangers finished 11-14, including 1-5 against the Oakland A's, who overtook the Rangers with a three-game sweep the final weekend of the season to force the Rangers into the wild-card game, which they lost at home to the Orioles.
Only a third of that Rangers' roster is still around, including Adrian Beltre and Elvis Andrus.
"We're doing a good job of not thinking about it yet. I think it's too early," said Andrus, who got the day off in place of Jurickson Profar. "We still have a lot of baseball ahead of us. We know if we can continue to play on that level we're going to be able to win a lot of games. That's the message from everybody. Don't think about it or start counting. It's too early for that."
Yu Darvish, who was a rookie on that '12 team, took the loss Sunday after allowing five runs on seven hits and three walks in four innings. It's the shortest outing for Darvish since Aug. 9, 2014, his last start before eventually having Tommy John surgery. The Astros scored twice in the first, including a lead-off homer by George Springer and three more times in the fourth to take a 5-0 lead.
"I was feeling good so you have to tip your cap to their offense today," said Darvish, who dropped to 5-4 and snapped his string of quality starts at eight. "I gave up bloopers, infield hits. I was making good pitches. The home run was down and away. I made a pitch and he hit it good. They just did a good job today."
The Rangers offense exploded during the home stand, outscoring their opponents 75-43, collecting 10 or more hits in six of the 10 games, including the last five for a combined 67 hits. Nobody was more prolific in the stretch than Rougned Odor, who went 3 for 5 with three RBIs with his team-leading 29th homer, which pulled the Rangers to within 5-2 in the fourth. The Rangers scored three more in the fifth to pull to within 6-5 but the Astros held on with closer Ken Giles closing it out after surrendering a run in the ninth.
Odor had six homers and 17 RBIs on the home stand and has and RBI in a career-high six consecutive games.
"It's late in the season. This is the time to help your team win," said Odor, who has extra-base hits in the past five games. "I feel pretty good right now at the plate. I'm just trying to look for my pitch and hit the ball hard."
Manager Jeff Banister said the offense showed how dangerous it can be. "We're getting production up and down the lineup," he said. That was, in my opinion, what we needed to do before we go out on this 10-day road trip. These guys are in a good place right now."
That's for sure, Andrus said, but there's no celebrating yet.
"We're in the driver's seat right now," he said. "We can't take anything for granted, there's a lot of good series left to play."
