HOUSTON — With the Houston Astros needing him to pitch well, Dallas Keuchel said he felt no pressure. Rather, he was totally at home.
Keuchel improved to 15-0 at Minute Maid Park this season, leading the Astros past Texas 4-2 Sunday and cutting the Rangers’ lead in the AL West to 2½ games.
“It’s honestly something I never really expected because this is a so-called hitter’s park, with the dimensions and everything,” said Keuchel, a former Arkansas Razorback. “It feels like I am at home here this year. I have steadily improved over the years.”
The Astros held their lead for the second AL wild-card spot as well as closing in on Texas with a week left in the regular season. They stayed a half-game ahead of the Los Angeles Angels, with Minnesota trailing by 1½ games.
Keuchel (19-8) struck out 10, giving up 1 run and 2 hits in 7 innings. The lefty retired 15 consecutive batters after walking Elvis Andrus in the second inning.
Luke Gregerson threw a perfect ninth for his 29th save.
ASTROS 4, RANGERS 2
Martin Perez (3-6) allowed two runs — both unearned — and five hits in six innings.
Keuchel has allowed two runs over his last two starts after giving up nine in 4 2/3 innings against Texas on Sept. 16.
“I think I was actually the exact same,” Keuchel said. “They were hitting pitches the last start, and they weren’t doing that today. I can’t really chalk it up to anything.”
Keuchel set a team record for most strikeouts by a left-hander in a season when he fanned Mike Napoli in the first. Keuchel has 213 this year; Mike Cuellar fanned 203 in 1967.
“I’ve seen Dallas pretty good this year,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “For him to step up after the first inning when a couple things didn’t go his way — he gives up the cheap run, they scratch one across — he was as dominant as he’s been the whole game.”
Houston also clinched its first winning season since 2008.
“It’s definitely nice because nobody likes to lose,” Keuchel said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s professional ranks or college, nobody really likes to lose. We’ve done a lot of that these last couple of years. The turnaround has been nice. Guys are playing with more confidence; guys are maturing; guys are growing, and that is fun to see.”
Jake Marisnick gave Houston the lead with a two-out, two-run double in the second. A two-out error by shortstop Elvis Andrus set up Marisnick.
Chris Carter had two hits and greeted Ross Ohlendorf with a solo home run to left to up Houston’s lead to 3-1.
ANGELS 3, MARINERS 2 Kole Calhoun singled in the tiebreaking run in the eighth after Carson Smith relieved Hisashi Iwakuma (9-5), and host Los Angeles won its fifth consecutive game. David Freese homered in the fifth for the Angels (81-74), who remained a half-game behind Houston for the second AL wild card.
TWINS 7, TIGERS 1 Byron Buxton doubled and homered for visiting Minnesota, which won for the fifth time in seven games and remained 1 ½ games behind Houston.
ROYALS 3, INDIANS 0 A day after his father died, Chris Young (11-6) pitched five no-hit innings in his first start for host Kansas City after nearly two months in the bullpen, then caught a flight to Dallas before the game ended.
YANKEES 6, WHITE SOX 1 Luis Severino (5-3) pitched five-hit ball for six innings, Dustin Ackley homered off Erik Johnson (3-1) to lift New York’s offense and the Yankees cut their magic number for clinching at least a wild card to three. BLUE JAYS 5, RAYS 4 Josh Donaldson homered off Steve Geltz (2-6) with two outs in the ninth, his 41st this year, to help Toronto beat visiting Tampa Bay.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
CUBS 4, PIRATES 0 Jake Arrieta pitched seven dominant innings and also homered in his major league-best 21st victory, and host Chicago stopped Pittsburgh’s eight-game win streak. Arrieta (21-6) retired his first 18 batters before Gregory Polanco hit a leadoff single in the seventh. The right-hander homered in the second and struck out nine while improving to 15-1 with a dazzling 0.89 ERA in his last 19 starts. Pittsburgh (95-61) and Chicago (90-65) each have clinched a playoff spot and lead the NL wild-card standings, so the Pirates could see Arrieta again in the first game of the postseason on Oct. 7. But they would likely have ace Gerrit Cole for that one — Cole pitched seven crisp innings in a 3-2 victory over the Cubs in the series opener on Friday. A.J. Burnett (Central Arkansas Christian, North Little Rock) pitched six innings for the Priates, giving up 2 runs on 7 hits. He struck out five and walked two.
BREWERS 8, CARDINALS 4 Pinch-hitter Jason Rogers had a ninth-inning grand slam for visiting Milwaukee off Trevor Rosenthal (2-4), who had converted 47 of 49 previous save chances.
METS 8, REDS 1 Jacob deGrom (14-8) gave up 1 run and 5 hits and struck out 9 over 6 innings in his first outing for visiting New York since Sept. 15 — he had been skipped over in the rotation to rest.
ROCKIES 12, DODGERS 5 Nolan Arenado had a career-high five RBI, including a three-run homer, and host Colorado completed a threegame sweep that kept Los Angeles’ magic number at two for its third consecutive NL West title. PHILLIES 12, NATIONALS 5 Jonathan Papelbon gave up the go-ahead home run to Andres Blanco in the top of the ninth inning and visiting Philadelphia scored eight times in the inning to beat Washington, a day after the Nationals were eliminated from playoff contention. MARLINS 9, BRAVES 5 Justin Bour homered twice and drove in three runs as host Miami completed a three-game sweep.
DIAMONDBACKS 4, PADRES 2 Ender Inciarte had four hits, including two home runs, and drove in three runs for visiting Arizona.
INTERLEAGUE
GIANTS 5, ATHLETICS 4 Chris Heston (12-10) gave up 4 runs and 6 hits over 5-plus innings to win for the first time since July 27 for visiting San Francisco.
Sunday’s games
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Miami 9, Atlanta 5 NY Mets 8, Cincinnati 1 Philadelphia 12, Washington 5 Milwaukee 8, St. Louis 4 Arizona 4, San Diego 2 Colorado 12, LA Dodgers 5 Chicago Cubs 4, Pittsburgh 0
AMERICAN LEAGUE
NY Yankees 6, Chicago White Sox 1 Toronto 5, Tampa Bay 4 Minnesota 7, Detroit 1 Boston 2, Baltimore 0 Kansas City 3, Cleveland 0 Houston 4, Texas 2 LA Angels 3, Seattle 2
INTERLEAGUE
San Francisco 5, Oakland 4
MLB STANDINGS. Page 3C.