HOUSTON — Marcus Semien hit his 250th career home run and Adolis García also went deep to back up a strong start by Nathan Eovaldi and give the Texas Rangers a 5-1, series-clinching victory over the Houston Astros on Sunday.

Eovaldi (7-3) limited Houston to five hits and a run with eight strikeouts in 7 2/3 innings for his third straight win.

Houston starter Hunter Brown (9-4) allowed five hits and four runs while striking out eight in five innings as the AL West leaders lost for the fifth time in six games. It was the second straight tough outing for the All-Star, who gave up a season-high six runs in his last start against Cleveland.

Wyatt Langford walked to open the second and the Rangers made it 1-0 when he scored on a triple by Evan Carter. There were two outs in the inning when Carter scored on a ground-rule double by Ezequiel Duran to push the lead to 2-0.

García’s third homer in the last four games put Texas ahead 3-0 with two outs in the third inning.

Carter doubled to start the fourth and Kyle Higashioka singled before Carter scored on a sacrifice fly by Alejandro Osuna to make it 4-0.

The Astros cut it to 4-1 on a home run by Zack Short with no outs in the sixth inning.

Semien’s shot with one out in the eighth inning was his second of the series and gave him 250 in his 13-year career.

Key moment

Texas jumping on Brown for two runs in the second inning to take the lead for good.

Key stat

García’s 20 home runs against the Astros since 2021 are the most of any player in that span.

Up next

The Astros open the second half of the season Friday night at Seattle, and the Rangers host Detroit on the same night.

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Published Sunday, July 13, 2025 | 1:51 p.m.

Old Mill’s Tsedeke Jakovics, a 10-time state champion, leads the Capital Gazette 2025 boys track and field All-County team as Athlete of the Year.

By Dave Hart
LocalSportsJournal.com

MUSKEGON – For the first time this season, the Muskegon Clippers have control of their own destiny.

The Clippers swept a doubleheader against the Southern Ohio Copperheads on Saturday night at Marsh Field and did it with the franchise’s first no hitter in the nightcap.

The Clippers won the opening game in sudden death, 6-5, then pulled off a 3-0 combined no-hitter by Maxwell Salas and Winston Delp and won the nightcap.

Muskegon suddenly has the second-best winning percentage in the league with a 17-16 record with just nine games remaining.

The Clippers will travel to play the Xenia Scouts in a three-game series starting on Tuesday. First pitch is slated for 7:05 p.m.

“We tried to pick the right guys to pitch on the right day,” said Clippers’ manager Logan Fleener. “Our staff called a great game and executed.

“We played a high anxiety sudden death game, and then all of a sudden, it’s 20 minutes we need to get hot again. We are humans and we are going to do everything to get ready, but it helped having a guy shove it down their throats.”

Game 1
Clippers 6
Copperheads 5 (Sudden death)

The Clippers jumped out to a 5-0 lead, scoring three runs in the first and two in the third inning.

Muskegon scored on a wild pitch and two-run double by Luke Noack in the first inning.

The Clippers added a pair of runs on RBI singles from Cole Leclair and Aidan Robinson.

The Copperheads responded with two runs in the sixth and three in the seventh inning to tie the contest. Both teams failed to score in the eighth, forcing a sudden death half inning.

In the sudden death ninth inning, Southern Ohio opted to go on offense, which put a runner on first with no outs. If the Coppersheads score, they win. If Muskegon keeps them from scoring, the Clippers win.

The Copperheads advanced their runner to third base, but could not get him home.

Taylor Head and Leclair paced the Clippers with two hits apiece.

Davis Weeks earned the win by shutting down Southern Ohio in the sudden-death inning. Connor Freeman tossed a no-decision, pitching five innings and allowing no runs on five hits while striking out six batters.

Game 2
Clippers 3
Copperheads 0

Six shutout innings by Salas and one by Delp secured the no-hit victory. Salas struck out five and walked two while Delp came on in the seventh inning for the final three outs.

Clippers scored a run in the second, third, and sixth innings.

Weeks had an RBI single; Jack Bakus added an RBI single; and Ashten Wong had a sacrifice fly.

Ethan Delgado, Bakus, Weeks, and Ben Meyers each recorded a hit.

“It feels awesome to do this on this historical field and be a part of the history,” Salas said. “I try to throw as many strikes as possible and see what happens. And I trust the guys behind me.”

It is never easy for a reliever to finish a no-hitter, but Delp had plenty of confidence going into the final inning.

“Max (Salas) did all the hard work, but the hard part is I didn’t want to let him down,” Delp said. “I just tried to fill up the zone and use the team around me.”