Langford and Burger homer in a four-run eighth as the Rangers beat the Astros 7-3

Jul 11, 2026, 10:50 am

ARLINGTON, Texas -- — Wyatt Langford and Jake Burger homered in a four-run eighth inning as the Texas Rangers beat the Houston Astros 7-3 on Friday night.

Langford’s leadoff homer and Burger’s three-run shot came off Bryan King (2-2) after the Astros had rallied from an early 3-0 deficit to tie the score in the seventh inning. Houston’s rally included Yordan Alvarez’s 200th career home run, his 30th of the season.

Langford hit a walk-off homer on Thursday night in a 7-6 win over the Los Angeles Angels hours after being reinstated from the injured list.

Cole Winn (5-2) retired all four batters he faced in the seventh and eighth innings for his second win in two nights.

The Rangers (48-46) lead the AL West by 1½ games over Seattle (47-48) and three games over the Astros (46-50). Houston has lost three of its last four games.

The Rangers took a 2-0 lead on Hunter Brown in the first inning and made it 3-0 in the fifth on Joc Pederson's home run.

Alvarez’s 455-foot shot to right field leading off the sixth was his sixth in five games at Globe Life Field this season and 18th in 35 career regular-season games at the park.

Texas starter Cal Quantrill allowed the one run on Alvarez’s homer, one of five hits, and walked one in a season-high six innings making his fourth consecutive start following 15 relief appearances. His 79 pitches were also a season high.

Houston tied the score at 3 in the seventh on Yainer Diaz’s two-run homer off Chris Martin.

Brown gave up three runs in six innings. The 2025 All-Star made his fifth start after missing 2½ months with a strained shoulder and matched a career high with five walks to go with four hits.

UP NEXT

Saturday night’s middle game of the series will match Astros RHP Peter Lambert (7-5, 3.26 ERA) against Rangers RHP Kumar Rocker (2-7, 3.95)

------

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/mlb