Tatsuya Imai (W, 2-2) hurled 6 innings of no-hit ball, Yordan Alvarez and Christian Walker homered and the Houston Astros (24-31) pummeled the Texas Rangers (24-29) 9-0 in the first game of their four-game series at Globe Life Park in Arlington.
It’s a huge mark for Imai, who was making his 6th start of the season and whose early tenure with the Astros has been marked with struggle and injury. While his most recent performances have been trending in the right direction, Imai’s line tonight of 6 no-hit shutout innings was easily his best performance of the season. While he walked 4 and struck out 2, he also generated 8 ground ball outs which was very important given his recent penchant for ceding the long ball.
Steven Okert pitched the 7th. Alimber Santa set the Rangers down in order over the final 2 innings, punctuated with a strikeout of Brandon Nimmo to end the game. This was Santa’s first appearance with the Astros.
The Astros got to Rangers SP Kumar Rocker (L, 2-5) right away in the first. Jeremy Pena was hit by a pitch leading off the game, and then stole 2nd. After advancing to 3rd on a groundout by Isaac Paredes, Yordan Alvarez hit a sacrifice fly to score Pena and make it 1-0 Houston after 1.
The Astros would get on the board again in the 4th, when Alvarez led off the inning with his 16th HR of the season. The 415 foot blast to center was hit 110.6 MPH, and gave the Astros a 2-0 lead going to the bottom of the 4th.
Houston would get 2 more in the 5th. Zach Dezenzo led off with a walk. Nick Allen then singled to right to put runners on the corners with no out. Christian Vazquez then successfully executed a squeeze bunt to score Dezenzo and increase the lead to 3-0, with Allen advancing to 3rd.
Pena would then rip a ground ball single to right to score Allen to make it 4-0 Astros.
Houston would break it open in the 7th. Vazquez led off with a single to center, followed by Pena being hit by a pitch for the second time in the game to runners at 1st and 2nd with no out. After Paredes and Alvarez both popped up, Christian Walker launched his 15th HR of the season to left center. The 3-run blast made it a 7-0 lead for the Astros.
The next batter, Jake Meyers, would reach on an error by Rangers shortstop Michael Helman. Cam Smith would also reach on an error by Helman, giving the Astros 2 on with 2 out. Brice Matthews then hit a hard single to left to load the bases for Nick Allen.
Allen, coming off a 3-for-3 performance in yesterday’s series finale with the Cubs, continued his hot hitting with a 2-run single to left scoring Meyers and Smith and pushing the lead to 9-0. It also capped a 5-run 7th inning for Houston. Allen would finish 2-for-5 with 2 RBI, he is now batting .317.
The combined no-hitter is the 18th no-hitter in franchise history and the first no-hitter in MLB since September 2024. It is the first Astros no-hitter since Ronel Blanco’s solo gem April 1, 2024. It is the franchise’s 5th combined no-hitter, and first since Cristian Javier led a combined no-hitter against the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 4 of the 2022 World Series at Citizens Bank Park.
Jason Alexander (1-0, 7.30 ERA) will get the start tomorrow as the Astros look to continue their march towards the 2026 Silver Boot and back towards .500. Houston has now won 4 straight and 7 of their last 10.
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