Rangers 9, Astros 2: Keuchel unable to stop Astros' slide

The Houston Astros were going to need everything they could get from Dallas Keuchel with the Rangers ace Cole Hamels on the mound. The Astros got another sub-par outing, as the Rangers swept Houston for the second time with a 9-2 victory on Sunday.

The Rangers exploded for five runs in the third inning against Keuchel. Texas scored four of its runs with two outs -- highlighted by an Adrian Beltre double that scored two runs.

The Astros got one run back in the bottom of the inning with an error that allowed Jason Castro to reach and a double by Jake Marisnick. Jose Altuve grounded out, allowing Castro to score.

Ryan Rua and Bobby Wilson combined to score runs in back-to-back innings, scoring the Rangers sixth run in the fourth inning.

Texas used three singles to keep adding to its score against Keuchel: Elvis Andrus, Rua and Hanser Alberto pushed one run across in the sixth. Evan Gattis smacked his fourth home run of the season in the bottom of the inning to make the score 7-2.

Nomar Mazara hit a two-run home run off Pat Neshek to punctuate the dismal evening for the Astros.

Houston was able to get a runner on in sixth of the nine innings on Sunday, only getting runners over to second in those two innings where the team did score.

The Astros will have to rebound against the AL East-leading Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday.