Yainer Diaz powers the Astros past the Rangers 11-2, pushing Houston into first

Yainer Diaz homered and tied a career high with four hits and Isaac Paredes and Christian Walker also went deep to lead the Houston Astros to an 11-2 rout of the Texas Rangers that put them in first place in the AL WestByKRISTIE RIEKEN AP sports writerHOUSTON -- Yainer Diaz homered and tied a career high with four hits and Isaac Paredes and Christian Walker also went deep to lead the Houston Astros to an 11-2 rout of the Texas Rangers Friday night that put them in first place in the AL West.Jeremy Peña had three RBIs and Yordan Alvarez added two as the Astros tied a season high with 18 hits for their ninth win in 10 games to move a half-game ahead of Texas atop the division.There were runners on first and third with one out in the second when LaMonte Wade Jr. doubled to make it 1-0. Nathan Eovaldi (10-9) plunked Peña on the arm to load the bases with two outs.Alvarez followed with a single on a grounder to left field to score two and push the lead to 3-0. Cam Smith tripled with two outs in the fourth before Peña extended his hit streak to 12 games with a single that made it 4-0.Paredes and Walker hit back-to-back home runs off Eovaldi to open the fifth inning and leave Houston up 6-0.Joc Pederson homered and Corey Seager doubled and had two hits for the Rangers in his return after missing 23 games with inflammation in his lower back as they dropped a third straight.Pederson’s home run to right-center field cut the lead to 6-1 in the sixth. Evan Carter hit an RBI single with two outs in the sixth to make it 6-2.Popular ReadsDiaz’s solo homer was the first of four runs Houston scored with two outs in the seventh that pushed the lead to 10-2. Houston starter Hunter Brown (3-1) yielded six hits and two runs in 5 2/3 innings. Eovaldi allowed 10 hits and tied a season high with six runs in five innings.Texas RHP Jacob deGrom (7-6, 3.67 ERA) opposes RHP Ronel Blanco (0-1, 8.10) when the series continues Saturday night.___AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLBSponsored Content by Taboola