Houston, TX (SportsNetwork.com) - Robinson Chirinos' sacrifice fly in the ninth inning knocked in the go-ahead run as the Texas Rangers stopped the Houston Astros' 10-game winning streak with a 2-1 decision at Minute Maid Park.
Shut down by Dallas Keuchel for the first seven innings, the Rangers scored once off the Houston ace in the eighth and another against Chad Qualls (0-2) in the ninth to prevail.
Jake Smolinski delivered the game-tying single in the eighth, and Adrian Beltre opened the ninth with a double before later coming home with the eventual winning run.
Keuchel struck out eight and yielded just five hits over eight innings, the lefty's 13th straight quality start dating back to last season. Counterpart Ross Detwiler was equally as good for Texas, holding the Astros to a run on four hits while fanning seven through seven frames.
"Big win for the team," said Detwiler. "Everybody knew about the 10-game winning streak, so it's nice to be able to put an end to that."
After failing to capitalize on several earlier scoring chances, the Rangers finally broke through against Keuchel while down 1-0 in the eighth. Delino DeShields drew a one-out walk and stole second prior to Smolinski, hitting .128 at the time of the at-bat, punched a single to center that brought in DeShields from second.
Beltre greeted Qualls with a deep smash to center to start the ninth and Kyle Blanks followed with a base hit to move the potential lead run to third. Qualls bounced back to strike out DeShields, but Chirinos' fly ball was deep enough to plate Beltre and send Texas in front.
Neftali Feliz then retired the side in order in the bottom of the ninth to save the win for Keone Kela (2-1) after the rookie tossed a perfect eighth.
"This is a resilient team," said Astros manager A.J. Hinch. "Today wasn't our day but it doesn't change anything for tomorrow."
Detwiler surrendered a pair of walks, which came to two of the first three Houston hitters and proved costly when a double steal and Evan Gattis' sac fly sent home Jose Altuve for an early 1-0 Astros' lead.
The Rangers' lefty was sharp the rest of the way, yielding no more than one baserunner in any inning over the remainder of his stint. However, Texas wasn't able to come up with a clutch hit against Keuchel, named the American League's April Pitcher of the Month on Monday, until the eighth.
Keuchel set down nine straight -- the last six all on strikeouts -- after Shin-Soo Choo began the game with a double. The Rangers also received leadoff doubles from DeShields and Prince Fielder in the sixth and seventh innings, respectively, but left them stranded on both occasions.
Texas finished 2-of-15 with runners in scoring position. The Astros were 0- for-5.
Game Notes
DeShields entered the game in the fifth inning in place of Leonys Martin, who sprained his left wrist while attempting to make a catch in center field ... Keuchel's 13 consecutive quality starts is the longest streak by a Houston hurler since Wandy Rodriguez also had 13 in a row in 2010. The Astros had won each of his last 10 outings, tying a franchise record for a starting pitcher ... Houston entered the game 13-0 when scoring first and 18-0 when owning a lead at any time ... Astros outfielder Jake Marisnick had an 11-game hitting streak snapped after going 0-for-3.
Receive your weekly recap of all the happenings around the world of sports.