Sweep! First place! Silver Boot! Astros do it all vs. Rangers

HOUSTON --- One of the biggest cheers Wednesday night at Daikin Park came in the middle of the eighth inning when the final score flashed on the scoreboard indicating the Mariners’ 10-game winning streak had come to an end with a loss to the Royals in Kansas City.

“Inside of me, I was cheering, too,” Astros manager Joe Espada said.

A few minutes later, the home dugout was filled with handshakes and high-fives and the entire ballpark was cheering after the Astros polished off a clutch three-game sweep of the Rangers with a 5-2 victory that carried huge significance in a tantalizing race to the finish in the American League West.

Not only did the Astros win the season series over Texas -- earning the Silver Boot for the ninth consecutive season -- they moved back into first place in the AL West by one-half game over the Mariners, who come to Houston on Friday for a massive three-game series. The Rangers dropped five games behind the Astros, who own the tiebreaker.

“It’s big,” said shortstop Jeremy Peña , who recorded the game’s final out with a tremendous diving stop to rob Josh Jung of a hit. “That was a big series for us in terms of, not just the standings, but in terms of the confidence in our team. We are in a great spot right now, the team is feeling good, with good energy. We’re going to keep building off this.”

The Astros, who floundered through July and August to squander a seven-game lead over Seattle, are playing their best baseball since June. They’ve won five of their past six games and are only 1 1/2 games behind the Tigers for the No. 2 playoff seed in the AL, which comes with a first-round bye.

There’s a lot on the line in the season’s final nine games, beginning with the showdown against Seattle (the teams have split their 10 previous games this year).

“It’s going to be fun,” said Astros third baseman Carlos Correa. “It’s pretty much playoff baseball. It’s to see who gets the crown to win the division, and it’s exciting when those meaningful games come around this late in the season and you have to play for everything.”

The Astros scored first in all three games of the series, including Monday when slugger Yordan Alvarez slipped while stepping on home plate and suffered a severe ankle sprain. Houston didn’t let the loss of Alvarez cast a pall over the series.

The Astros forced Jacob deGrom to throw 35 pitches in the first inning, taking a 2-0 lead on a bases-loaded single by Yainer Diaz. Jose Altuve put the Astros ahead, 4-2, in the third with a two-run homer, and Peña homered to right field in the fifth inning.

“I think these guys know exactly what’s at stake,” Espada said. “We played extremely well. Offensively, I thought the first inning was the key for our night. Having deGrom throw 30-plus pitches -- the first two guys get on and he strikes out Altuve and [Christian] Walker and you might see the end of that threat, but then Diaz [with] a big knock. I thought we carried that momentum, we made him work and we got some big hits.”

Peña laid off a deGrom slider on the first pitch he threw and wound up doubling to center, which was significant. That was one of two base hits the Astros got on nine sliders deGrom threw in the first inning and indicated Houston’s more disciplined approach on the pitch from when they faced him Sept. 6 in Arlington.

In that game, deGrom threw seven sliders in the first inning -- including the first two pitches of the game that Peña whiffed -- and he recorded three strikeouts on the pitch in the inning. The Astros whiffed only five times on 29 total deGrom sliders Wednesday.

“Jeremy took it and from there on we just built our approach,” Espada said. “We have to see him up. We have to see him throw the ball over the plate. He’s one of the best pitchers in the game and I’m proud of our effort.”

The Astros’ bullpen, which has been without All-Star closer Josh Hader for more than a month, followed six quality innings by starter Cristian Javier and held the Rangers to one hit in the final three innings, with lefty Bryan King getting a four-out save. That’s because Bryan Abreu was forced to throw 32 pitches to hold off the Rangers on Tuesday.

That next-man-up mentality is nothing new for an Astros team that has battled major injuries all season. Somehow, they’re back in first place and aiming for a fifth consecutive AL West division crown.

“This is what you play for,” King said. “This is September baseball in a close race and we know we’ve got a job to do and go one game at a time. We’ll come here Friday trying to win that game and see where it goes from there.”