ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) – Prince Fielder hit a towering home run, Ian Desmond had his first two-hit game with Texas and the Rangers beat the Houston Astros 7-5 on Tuesday night in the first meeting of 2016 between the AL West playoff teams from last season.
Fielder pulled a ball deep into the right-field seats for a two-run homer in the first, and Desmond had an RBI single later in the inning for a 3-0 lead as the Rangers went ahead to stay against Scott Feldman (0-2).
Jose Altuve and George Springer homered for the Astros, going back-to-back in the seventh to get within 6-4.
Mitch Moreland went deep in the bottom of the seventh for Texas, which last year won 13 of the 19 games between the Lone Star State teams and claimed the division title by two games over Houston.
Springer’s homer was to straightaway center and just beyond the glove of leaping Delino DeShields, who was in the Houston organization before the Rangers got him in the draft of unprotected players on the final day of baseball’s winter meetings in December 2014.