Jake Burger's two-run, two-out home run in the sixth inning produced the winning runs as the Texas Rangers beat Framber Valdez and the Houston Astros 4-2 on Sunday afternoon in the rubber game of a key three-game American League West series in Arlington, Texas.

Burger's opposite field homer off Valdez (12-9), who had been moved up in the rotation in an attempt to give the Astros an edge in the deciding game of the series, just reached the first row of the seats in right field barely out of the reach of Houston outfielder Cam Smith.

The win allowed Texas (74-70) to clinch the series to climb to within four games of the front-running Astros (78-66) in the the AL West standings and remain 1 1/2 games behind Seattle in the race for the league's final wild-card spot. Houston is just 2 1/2 gam

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