Beset by injuries, Astros hold off Rangers

HOUSTON — This time the Astros were able to hold off the Rangers’ late-inning charge and kept their postseason hopes alive with an 8-4 victory on Wednesday night at Minute Maid Park.

The victory moves the Astros to within 3 1/2 games behind the Blue Jays in the American League Wild Card race. The Astros are off on Thursday before opening a three-game series with the Mariners on Friday in Seattle. The Rangers are nine games up over the Mariners, who were playing the Angels late Wednesday night in Anaheim.

The Rangers finish the season with a 15-4 record against the Astros, tying for their second most wins against any opponent in club history. They were 17-2 against the Astros in 2013 and 53-23 against them over the past four years.

The Rangers have 15 games left, including 12 at home, against the Athletics, Angels, Brewers and Rays. Those teams went into Wednesday a combined 77 games under .500.

Astros rookie right-hander Joe Musgrove, staked to a 3-1 lead after two innings and a 5-1 lead in the sixth, held the Rangers to three runs in 6 1/3 innings. At one point he retired 14 of 15 batters before a walk to Jurickson Profar and Nomar Mazara’s two-run home run brought his night to an end with two outs in the seventh.

The Rangers added a run in the eighth on a double by Adrian Beltre and an RBI single by Jonathan Lucroy to make it a one-run game. But the Astros added three more in the bottom of the inning on a two-run single by Marwin Gonzalez and an RBI hit from Jake Marisnick, and Chris Devenski closed it out in the ninth.

MOMENTS THAT MATTEREDLeadoff Springer dinger: After the Astros went down, 1-0, in the top of the first, George Springer sent a big solo shot to the Crawford Boxes in the first at-bat of the ensuing half-inning, tying the score. The home run, which went a Statcast-projected 386 feet, was Springer’s eighth leadoff shot this season, tying the club record …

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