Houston Astros hold off Texas Rangers for ninth straight win

ARLINGTON, Texas -- The Houston Astros have found different ways to win during their nine-game winning streak.

On Saturday night, it was putting everything together in one inning.

The Astros used a four-run third inning to build the lead and then held on for a 6-5 victory over the Texas Rangers.

The nine-game streak is the longest winning streak for Houston since it won 10 straight in 2015. All nine wins have come on the road, which is one shy of the franchise record.

The Rangers have now lost 10 of their last 13.

Houston did the bulk of its damage in the third inning against Texas starter Andrew Cashner (2-5).

Six straight Astros reached against Cashner with one out. Carlos Correa's single broke the 1-1 tie and Carlos Beltran followed with a two-run single to right. Correa came around to score on a wild pitch to make it 5-1.

"We're winning ballgames, so for me that is what's important right now," said Beltran, who had three hits and three RBI. "There have been a lot of contributions from a lot of people on this team. We're happy where we're at. We got our 40 wins on the year.

"Baseball is a game where there are a lot of ups and downs, so in my case being in the league for a long time, I cannot judge my season on one bad month or two bad months. I believe in the work that I do every single day, so I know that time will come."

Houston right-hander Lance McCullers Jr., the American League Pitcher of the Month for May, didn't figure in the decision as Texas chased him by rallying for three runs in the fifth to cut the lead to 5-4.

Elvis Andrus, who gave Texas an early 1-0 lead with an RBI single in the first inning, lined a two-run double to left-center field to trim the Houston lead to 5-3. Adrian Beltre followed with an RBI single to make it a one-run game and end the night for McCullers.

McCullers gave up four runs and six hits in 4 1/3 innings while striking out eight hits.

"Obviously not happy not being able to give my team the start they deserve," McCullers said. "Not being able to go six, seven, maybe even eight innings.

"I felt really good, I don't feel like I would change anything. I feel like my stuff was really good. I felt like I got a little unlucky on some balls put in play, and then some hits that were infield hits."

Chris Devenski (4-3) came on and struck out Rougned Odor and Jonathon Lucroy with the tying run at second. Devenski didn't allow a run in 1 2/3 innings and struck out three.

Cashner matched his career high by allowing 11 hits. He pitched six innings and was charged with five runs.

"I thought I got the results I wanted," Cashner said. "I just didn't get the end result. For me, I'm not really too down. It's just keep making pitches, and I was one pitch away the whole inning from getting out if it and it just didn't happen to go that way."

Jose Altuve, who had three hits, gave the Astros some insurance with a solo homer in the top of the ninth.

The Rangers cut the deficit to 6-5 on a single by Beltre with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, but Ken Giles struck out Odor to end the game for his 15th save. Odor struck out four times and left six runners on base as his average dropped to .203.

"Obviously, he was a guy who was so good for us last year and obviously good for us in certain stretches this year," Texas manager Jeff Banister said of Odor.

"The last few opportunities with runners in scoring position when he was been so good for us in the past whether it's a big hit a home run or grinding at-bats out, I know it's a challenge for him. Hitters go through certain stretches and this one is obviously challenging."

Six Houston pitchers combined for 18 strikeouts.

Andrus collected three of the nine Texas hits. He has a nine-game hitting streak.

NOTES: Texas 1B Mike Napoli left the game in the fourth inning because of back spasms. ... The Rangers are undecided on a Tuesday starter against the New York Mets. They will decide between RHPs Nick Martinez, Austin Bibens-Dirkx or Dillon Gee. ... The Astros have won consecutive series against the Rangers for the first time since August 2014.