ARLINGTON, Texas — Adolis García homered and drove in four runs, Texas left-hander Cody Bradford allowed only two singles pitching into the eighth inning and the World Series champion Rangers beat the Houston Astros 10-2 on Friday night in the first meeting of the instate rivals since last year's in the American League Championship Series.
The Rangers led 5-0 in the second after Garcia's three-run shot, his AL-leading fourth homer in seven games this season. He pushed his RBI total to 10 with a two-out single that made it 7-0 in the fifth, an inning before Marcus Semien also hit a three-run homer.
Semien had three hits and walked twice for the Rangers, who finished with 16 hits and six walks.
Jose Altuve led off the game with a single, and the Astros didn't have another hit until Jeremy Peña's two-out single in the eighth. That was the last batter faced by Bradford (1-0), who struck out four and walked none.
Houston had won eight consecutive games at Globe Life Field, including three ALCS games in a series when the visiting team won all seven games. The Astros also swept a three-game series last September, outscoring Texas 39-10 and homering 16 times.
García homered in each of the last four ALCS games, including a go-ahead shot in the sixth inning of Game 5 in Arlington that he punctuated with an empathic bat spike and a slow trot. Two innings later, García got hit by a 98 mph fastball from Bryan Abreu, then immediately turned and got in the face of catcher Martin Maldonado as the benches and bullpens cleared. The Astros won 5-4 after Altuve's three-run homer in the ninth.
In the Astros' first game in Arlington since, Altuve had a leadoff single before Bradford retired 23 of the next 24 batters, the only runner in that span being on an error. No. 9 hitter Jake Meyers homered on Yerry Rodriguez's first pitch after he relieved Bradford in the eighth.
Hunter Brown (0-1) allowed eight hits and walked four batters while giving up five runs over three innings. Houston starters entered the game with 22 1/3 consecutive scoreless innings, including Ronel Blanco’s no-hitter Monday night against Tampa Bay.
