Rangers Blank Astros in Series Opener

Photo by Sam Hodde/Getty Images

May 15, 2025

Rangers 1, Astros 0

ARLINGTON, Texas (May 15) — The Texas Rangers snuck away with a win, beating the Houston Astros, 1–0, Thursday in front of a crowd of 28,108. Jake Burger provided all of the offense with one swing as he belted a solo homer in the sixth. The Rangers will try to run their winning streak to seven in the second game of this four-game set on Tuesday. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 pm Central at Globe Life Field. It will be a duel of righties as Lance McCullers Jr. (0–1, 15.75 ERA) will get the ball for the Astros, while Nathan Eovaldi (4–2, 1.78 ERA) toes the rubber for the Rangers.

Burger Bomb

Both teams traded zeroes for the first five and a half innings. The Rangers finally broke the seal in the bottom of the sixth off Astros starter Hunter Brown. Burger led off the frame with a line drive homer to right-center, his fourth of the season.

What Went Right for the Rangers

There are times when defense plays an even bigger role in a ballgame than offense does. Burger’s home run may have won the game for the Rangers, but their outfield saved it. Adolis Garcia and Evan Carter both made dazzling catches in the outfield to keep the Astros out of the run column.

What Went Wrong for the Rangers

From a reporter’s standpoint nights like this can be a challenge to find flaws in a team’s performance, and the Rangers really didn’t have any in this contest. They only thing they could have done better was put more runs on the board. When facing a team like the Astros, it’s best to have as much insurance as possible.

deGrominant

Rangers right-hander Jacob deGrom twirled eight scoreless innings in his first career start against the Astros. He earned the win, improving his record to 4–1 with an ERA of 2.29. His final line was 5 H, 1 BB, 7 SO, 96 pitches/69 strikes. Thursday marked his longest start and longest scoreless outing since a complete-game shutout on April 23, 2021 against the Washington Nationals as a member of the New York Mets. Thursday was his 11th career start of eight or more innings pitched, and his first such start with the Rangers. This outing comes 11 years to the day since he made his major league debut with the Mets.

Reliever Shawn Armstrong came in to pitch the ninth. He surrendered one walk to earn his second save of the season.

Tough Luck for Brown

Astros starter Hunter Brown made his ninth start of the season tonight, firing a career-high eight innings despite taking the loss (3 H, 1 R-ER, 0 BB, 9 SO, 1 HR, 91 pitches/65 strikes). Brown now owns a record of 6–2 with an ERA of 1.43. He logged his eighth quality start of the season, which leads the majors. Brown retired each of his first 12 batters faced, which is the longest string of batters he’s retired to open a start in his career. His first baserunner allowed was García, who doubled to open the bottom of the fifth. He was tagged for the solo home run by Burger in the sixth inning.

He snapped a span of 50 2/3 innings and 186 AB without allowing a home run. Entering play on Thursday, Brown’s 0.18 HR/9 mark led the AL, and was second in baseball to Mitchell Parker of the Nationals (0.18 lower). Brown lowered his season ERA from 1.48 to 1.43, second-lowest in the AL at the conclusion of Thursday’s game. He now carries a major league-leading 2.00 fielding independent pitching (FIP) figure, the lowest mark for an AL pitcher over his first nine starts of a season since Tarik Skubal of the Detroit Tigers (1.97) in 2024.

Bochy Passes Sparky

Rangers manager Bruce Bochy earned his 2,195th career managerial victory in this one, surpassing Sparky Anderson for sole possession of sixth place on Major League Baseball’s all-time list. Bochy tallied 951 wins with the San Diego Padres from 1995-2006 and 1,052 with the San Francisco Giants from 2007-19, and has notched 193 victories in his tenure as the Rangers’ skipper.

Bochy’s Postgame Comments

After the game, Bochy gave his thoughts on Thursday’s game. “What a game,” he said. “It was everything we thought this game would be. We figured runs would be at a premium, and they were. Jacob (deGrom) did a fantastic job, and their guy was tough too. Offensively, we got what we needed. Jake (Burger) got ahold of one. Before the game, I said it was probably going to take somebody going yard to win tonight, and we’re grateful that it came from our dugout.”