Mathis, Taveras hit late B2B HRs to lift Texas

Catcher Jeff Mathis hit a three-run homer, Kyle Gibson finished his season with six scoreless innings and two outstanding defensive plays by a pair of rookies led the Rangers to a 6-1 victory over the Astros on Saturday night at Globe Life Field.

Just in case you have forgotten about the Silver Boot …

• Box score

The Rangers have won two straight and are 4-5 against the Astros this season in the annual battle for their intrastate trophy. The Rangers are down 29-38 in total runs, so they would have to win by 10 or more on Sunday to take home the hardware for the first time since 2016.

But the trifecta of offense, pitching and defense was the story in a complete performance by the Rangers.

Mathis, goes deep
Mathis, 37, isn’t sure if this will be his final season. If it is, a go-ahead three-run shot isn’t a bad way to go, especially when the 16-year veteran was trying to bunt and should have walked.

The score was tied at 1 into the bottom of the seventh when Mathis came up with two on and nobody out against reliever Brandon Bielak. Manager Chris Woodward wanted Mathis to bunt.

Bielak missed with the first three pitches before Mathis took a strike. He fouled off the next one and then swung away with the count full, hitting a fastball over the left-center-field wall for his third home run of the season.

“Honestly, I was trying to get the bunt down,” Mathis said. “I offered at a pitch that was ball four. I should have walked, but it ended up working out. I was able to get one over the plate and put a good swing on it.”

Leody Taveras followed with a home run off Andre Scrubb to give the Rangers back-to-back homers in a five-run inning. The plan on Sunday is for Sam Huff to start at catcher. Mathis, who will become a free agent after the season, will go home to Florida and decide what’s next for him.

“I still feel like there's something in the tank,” Mathis said. “The fire is still there. The body feels pretty good. It feels really good. I mean, only playing 60 games was a little bit different, but it does feel good. With it being a shortened season, I don't really want to go out this way. I wanted to hopefully have another run at it.”

Gibson finishes strong
Gibson did not have the season he expected, but he was able to close out his 2020 with a strong outing. He allowed six hits, walked one batter and struck out four. Gibson said he found a flaw with his upper body in his delivery, and the adjustment made a difference on Saturday night.

“I just wish I had 20 more starts,” Gibson said. “I wish I would have found it 10 starts ago. Any time you can end a season on a good point is good.”

Reliever Jimmy Herget allowed the only run of the night for the Rangers as the Astros tied the score at 1 against him in the seventh. He ended up notching his first Major League win when the Rangers scored five in the bottom of the inning.

Defensive gems
Shortstop Anderson Tejeda and left fielder Nick Solak executed the two great defensive plays.

Tejeda’s play came with Myles Straw at second with one out in the third and Alex Bregman at the plate. Straw broke on a 2-2 pitch and Bregman hit a hard grounder that Tejeda grabbed diving to his left. Instead of throwing to first, he caught Straw rounding too far off third. Tejeda got the ball to third baseman Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Straw was tagged out in a rundown.

“That was a pretty heady play,” Woodward said. “That guy scores. He is coming around hard. If he throws to first base, they get a run. For him to peek over and see him too far off the base, it shows he has some pretty good awareness.”

Solak made a leaping catch against the left-field wall on Dustin Garneau's deep drive with a runner on first to end the game.

“Going back and forth from left field and second base, it’s hard to get comfortable in one spot,” Woodward said. “That’s a good play. Right in the corner, that’s a difficult play.”