ARLINGTON, Texas — Brandon Backe pitched into the seventh inning, Miguel Tejada had three hits and the Houston Astros beat the Texas Rangers 5-4 Sunday.
Backe (3-5) retired the first nine batters of the game and didn’t give up a run until allowing consecutive homers to Milton Bradley and David Murphy in the seventh.
The Rangers crept within 5-4 on Frank Catalanotto’s RBI double in the eighth. Jose Valverde, who got four outs for his 12th save in 15 chances, retired Michael Young to end the inning.
Backe wound up allowing three runs and five hits in 6 1-3 innings, with five strikeouts.
Lance Berkman was 2-of-5 to keep his average at .399. Berkman is on a 17-game hitting streak in which he is 36-of-66 with eight home runs and 21 RBIs.
Kason Gabbard (1-1) allowed five runs and nine hits in five innings for the Rangers, who were looking to sweep their first series of the season. The Rangers have won their last seven series for the first time since 1999.
Astros manager Cecil Cooper was thrown out in the sixth inning, the second time he’s been tossed in three games. He came out to argue when Michael Bourn was thrown out trying to steal second base.
Gabbard held the Astros to only one hit through the first three innings before they opened the scoring in the fourth.
Tejada, Berkman and Hunter Pence — who extended his hitting streak to 16 games — singled to load the bases with one out. Mark Loretta walked to force home a run, Ty Wigginton had an RBI grounder and J.R. Towles added a run-scoring double to give the Astros a 3-0 advantage.
The Astros scored two more in the fifth on Tejada’s RBI double and Carlos Lee’s sacrifice fly.
Ian Kinsler and Catalanotto singled off Backe with nobody out in the fourth, and Michael Young popped up to Houston second baseman Kaz Matsui in shallow right. Kinsler tried to score on the play from third, but Matsui’s throw to the plate beat Kinsler by several feet.
Backe struck out Bradley to end the threat.
The Rangers knocked Backe out of the game in the seventh. Bradley hit a two-run homer — his eighth of the season — and Murphy followed with his sixth.
Doug Brocail came out of the bullpen and got the final two outs of the seventh.
Texas outfielder Josh Hamilton, who leads the majors with 49 RBIs, did not start Sunday after leaving Saturday night’s game with soreness. Hamilton pinch hit and grounded out in the eighth before playing right field in the ninth.
Notes: The Rangers finished their nine-game homestand 6-3. …
Towles snapped a 1-of-18 slump with his RBI double. … Matt Harrison threw a seven-inning no-hitter for Texas’ Double-A affiliate Frisco in the first game of a doubleheader against San Antonio on Sunday.
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