Field Level Media

Jonah Heim hit a walk-off single to center to score Josh Smith and the Texas Rangers completed a three-game sweep of the Tampa Bay Rays with a 4-3 victory Sunday in Arlington.

Edwin Uceta (0-1) sat down the first two batters he faced in the bottom of the ninth before Smith hit a double to left. Two pitches later, Heim followed with his game-winner. Corey Seager hit his first home run of the year for the Rangers, who’ve won eight of 10 to start the year.

Marcus Semien and Leody Taveras added RBIs. Smith finished 3-for-4 and scored two of the hosts’ four runs. Rangers starter Kumar Rocker had a much better day after giving up six runs in three innings in his season debut last Monday at Cincinnati. Rocker scattered six hits over five innings of one-run ball Sunday, with one strikeout. Jacob Webb (1-0) struck out two in the ninth. The Rays trailed 3-1 through seven innings after Seager’s solo shot and Taveras’ RBI single.

They tied the game in the eighth when Brandon Lowe hit a run-scoring grounder to first and Junior Caminero added a sacrifice fly. Rays starter Drew Rasmussen went five innings, allowing a run on three hits and fanning four batters. Kameron Misner added an RBI single early on for the Rays, who have dropped four in a row.

ASTROS

Jose Altuve delivered a go-ahead single in the top of the 10th inning, and the Houston Astros rallied for a 9-7 win over the Minnesota Twins on Sunday afternoon in Minneapolis.

Yordan Alvarez went 2-for-4 with a homer and three RBIs for Houston, which stormed back from a 7-1 deficit and scored the final eight runs of the game. Isaac Paredes went 4-for-6 with a pair of RBIs as the Astros won the rubber match of the three-game series. Trevor Larnach doubled and drove in three runs to lead Minnesota. Ryan Jeffers doubled and drove in two, and Matt Wallner finished 4-for-5 and scored a pair of runs. Astros left-hander Josh Hader (1-0) pitched two of scoreless relief to earn the victory. He struck out Christian Vazquez to end a 1-2-3 inning and stranded a designated runner on second base in the bottom of the 10th.

Twins right-hander Louis Varland (1-1) took the loss after giving up two runs (one earned) in one inning of relief. He was one of seven relief pitchers to follow starter Chris Paddack, who allowed four runs (three earned) on seven hits in four innings. The Astros took a 1-0 lead in the first on a sacrifice fly by Alvarez. Minnesota answered with three runs in the bottom of the first to pull ahead. Larnach hit a sacrifice fly and Jeffers followed with a two-run double. Carlos Correa increased the Twins’ lead to 4-1 with an RBI single in the second. Minnesota scored three more runs in the fourth to build a 7-1 advantage. Byron Buxton struck first with an RBI double, and Larnach delivered moments later with a two-run double.

The Astros started their comeback in the fifth. Zach Dezenzo scored on an error, Paredes ripped an RBI single and Jeremy Pena hit a sacrifice fly to cut the deficit to 7-4. Paredes struck again with an RBI single in the sixth to pull Houston within 7-5. The score stayed that way until the top of the ninth, when Paredes led off with a single and Alvarez followed with a game-tying, two-run blast to right-center field. Altuve put Houston on top for good with an RBI single to left in the 10th. Jake Meyers swiped home on a double-steal to give the Astros an insurance run.