Jose Altuve was more than due when he came to bat in the 10th inning
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”He hadn’t gotten a hit in four at-bats,” manager A.J. Hinch said of the second basemen who led the American League in hits each of the past four seasons and is the MLB leader so far this year.
Altuve was actually in an 0-for-13 slide before his fifth at-bat Wednesday night against the Texas Rangers. His 115th hit of the season was a one-out single off Chris Martin, who then hit Yuli Gurriel with a pitch before an errant pickoff throw allowed both runners to move up. That set up Evan Gattis‘ tiebreaking sacrifice fly in a 5-4 victory.
Gurriel homered, doubled and scored twice as the Astros overcame an early four-run deficit. His fifth homer, leading off the fifth against starter Mike Minor, tied the game at 4.
Josh Reddick also went deep for the Astros, who their eighth consecutive road game against Texas and are a majors-best 32-14 on the road this season. The Astros have a 12-4 advantage in the season series between the instate division rivals that has only a three-game set remaining in Houston later this month.
Shin-Soo Choo homered and had a single to extend his on-base streak to 44 games, the longest in his career and in the majors this season. That matches Otis Nixon’s streak in 1995 for the Rangers, and trails only Julio Franco’s 46-gamer in 1993 for the team record.
Texas led 4-0 after Choo’s one-out solo homer started a three-run outburst in the third off starter Gerrit Cole.
Collin McHugh (4-0), who won 48 games as a starter for the Astros the past four seasons, allowed only one hit over three scoreless innings. Ken Giles worked the 10th for his 12th save in 12 chances.
”You’re talking about a 19-game winner in the big leagues. Those don’t grow on trees,” said Astros reliever Will Harris, who worked out of a jam in the sixth before McHugh took over. ”He goes out there and he knows who he is. He mixes it up, he’s a strike thrower and he’s a fearless guy out there.”
MESSY MOUND
The start of the game was delayed for a few minutes after Minor had issues with the mound during warmups. The ground crew came out to work on the slippery dirt. Cole also was unhappy with the mound. Martin (1-2) slipped and fell down when throwing the pitch that hit Gurriel. The Rangers said afterward that Martin was being evaluated for a left groin issue.
”The mound early seemed to be slick,” Rangers manager Jeff Banister said.
DEEP ON THE ROAD
The Astros have homered in 24 consecutive road games, three short of the MLB record set by the Oakland Athletics earlier this season. Baltimore also went deep in 24 consecutive road games in 1996.
RACKING UP K’s
Cole, who threw 108 pitches to get through five innings
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FAR FROM PERFECT
Minor retired the first 19 San Diego batters he faced in his previous start a week earlier. The lefty allowed four runs (three earned) on seven hits over six innings against Houston with four strikeouts and three walks.
”Probably not as sharp as he’s been,” Banister said. ”Looked like they were sitting on slider.”
TRAINER’S ROOM
Astros: Hinch said C Max Stassi was feeling better than expected after getting hit by a pitch on his right (throwing) wrist in the first inning Tuesday, on the same day starting catcher Brian McCann had arthroscopic surgery on his right knee.
Rangers: 3B Adrian Beltre, baseball’s active career hits leader (3,108), was scratched from the lineup about an hour before the game because of an infected tooth. He had a root canal and then traveled with the team to Detroit. … RHP Tony Barnette went on the 10-day disabled list. An MRI revealed a strained lat that will keep him from throwing for at least four weeks. He left Tuesday night’s game in the middle of a batter.
UP NEXT
Astros: Justin Verlander (9-4), who has lost his last two starts, is on the mound when the Astros return home for the opener Thursday night of a four-game series against the Chicago White Sox.
Rangers: The Rangers open a 10-game, 11-day trip that will take them to the All-Star break when they play Thursday night at Detroit. Texas also plays at Boston and Baltimore before their next home game July 20.
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Weaving wildly down the steep final slope, Marcel Hirscher somehow found a way to outduel Henrik Kristoffersen yet again on Saturday.
Hirscher’s thrilling victory was his third in a World Cup giant slalom this season with his biggest rival runner-up each time. It also lifted the 28-year-old Austrian into third on the men’s World Cup all-time wins list.
The Hirscher-Kristoffersen contest shapes as one of Alpine skiing’s best rivalries heading into the Pyeongchang Winter Games next month, when both will seek a first Olympic gold medal.
Hirscher hung on for the win by just 0.17 seconds despite losing speed, and most of his half-second lead, taking a wide line cresting the slope down to the finish.
He went wide again three gates from the end and, on crossing the finish line
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”Once again the luck was on my side,” Hirscher said in a finish-area interview broadcast to a crowd of 31,000 for the classic Swiss race.
Kristoffersen applauded his opponent and smiled wryly for the cameras on being runner-up for the sixth time in all races this season – four of them behind the same man. He has yet to win and is currently second to Hirscher in three different season-long standings.
”It was a real fight,” Kristoffersen said of Hirscher. ”At the moment he is just better.”
Alexis Pinturault of France placed third Saturday, trailing 0.21 behind Hirscher, the six-time defending overall champion.
Hirscher extended his lead in the overall and giant slalom season standings from second-place Kristoffersen.
With his 51st career World Cup win, the 28-year-old Austrian broke a tie with Alberto Tomba that lasted only two days. Hirscher won a slalom Thursday at Zagreb, Croatia.
Hirscher now trails only his fellow Austrian Hermann Maier (54) and Swedish great Ingemar Stenmark (86) on the wins list 51 years after the World Cup began.
A sixth career win at Adelboden also lifted Hirscher over Stenmark’s five on the Chuenisbaergli hill. However, when Stenmark raced in the 1970s and `80s, the course staged only a giant slalom.
Hirscher and Kristoffersen will start favorites in slalom on Sunday.
”I am not confident,” Kristoffersen said. ”He has won three in a row, or something, in slalom.”
Olympic champion Ted Ligety, the winner here in 2013, skied out in the second run on a darkening course after being eighth fastest in the morning sunshine.
Fans packed the stands in record numbers for one of Switzerland’s favorite sports events after overnight repairs to rebuild a section of the main road into Adelboden. It was damaged by the Eleanor storm that swept across Europe in midweek.
