ARLINGTON, Texas _ When you face a pitching staff as daunting as the Houston Astros', you can ill afford to waste opportunities to score. The Rangers had more chances than they could count on two hands Saturday, and in the end capitalized on precious few of them.
The Rangers (27-40) fell to the Astros 4-3 in a game that can only be described by the men Texas stranded on the base path.
The Rangers had their chances against the unusually wild Charlie Morton. The right hander, who entered the game with a 1.08 WHIP, walked six and tied an American League record with four hit batters in 3 2/3 innings of work.
But the Rangers only made Morton pay in the second inning. Delino DeShields knocked in Rougned Odor on a groundball that second baseman Jose Altuve bobbled. A Nomar Mazara sacrifice fly drove in Robinson Chirinos to complete the scoring in that frame.
Otherwise, it was stranded runner after stranded runner for the Rangers. Texas left multiple men on base in each of the first six innings, a streak only broken when Shin-Soo Choo was left by his lonesome on second base to end the seventh.
In total, the Rangers tied a franchise record by leaving 17 men on base, the most by any team in MLB this season.
It wasted a solid performance from Texas' starting pitcher, Mike Minor. The lefty struggled at first, allowing two runs before he could record his second out in the top of the first inning.
But Minor settled down, inducing a double play from Evan Gattis to start a stretch in which he retired 10 of the next 11 batters he faced. A home run from Max Stassi in the fifth inning was all the Astros could manage before Minor was pulled in after six innings.
Jose Leclerc allowed an RBI single to George Springer in the seventh inning as the Astros took their 4-3 lead. The Rangers had a chance to tie in the ninth when Chirinos led off the frame with a single to right field.
Carlos Tocci pinch ran for Chirinos and advanced to second on a fielder's choice grounder to second from Ronald Guzman, who finished the game 2-for-4 with an RBI.
Choo drew a walk before Houston's Hector Rondon induced a double play from pinch hitter Adrian Beltre, appropriately leaving the tying run on base.
