Christian Walker and Yordan Alvarez blasted solo home runs to back the splendid start from pitcher Hunter Brown as the Houston Astros walloped the Texas Rangers 11-0 on Saturday to capture the second game of a key three-game series between the American League West rivals in Arlington, Texas.

The win allowed the Astros (78-65) to even the series after Texas (73-70) captured the opening game 4-3 in 12 innings on Friday.

Houston held on to its 3 1/2-game lead over Seattle in the AL West, with the Rangers dropping to five games off the pace in the division and a game and a half behind the second-place Mariners for the AL's final wild-card spot.

Brown (11-7) outdueled Texas ace Jacob deGrom, producing six shutout innings while allowing four hits and three walks and striking out eight in his

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