Sandy León started a game and hit a home run. That is awesome for him but also indicative of how this season has gone.

ATLANTA — Zach Cole hit a home run in his first major league at-bat, Jose Altuve hit his 25th homer of the season and the Houston Astros routed the Atlanta Braves 11-3 on Friday night. Cole was 3 for 4 with four RBIs after being called up from Triple-A Sugar Land. Christian Walker was 3 for 5 with two RBIs and Jake Meyers was 2 for 3 with 2 RBIs.

With a week left in the regular season, the Astros are out of the American League playoff picture. The Seattle Mariners’ 6-4 win on Saturday gave them a two-game lead in the American League West, a division the Astros have won each of the past seven 162-game seasons.

Tonight, they have a chance to get back into the win column and expand their playoff lead against Jack Leiter (9-8, 3.76 ERA, 131 SO) and the Rangers in the first game of a critical three game series at Daikin Park.

Expert recap and game analysis of the Texas Rangers vs. Houston Astros MLB game from 8 September 2025 on ESPN (IN).

The Astros torched Merrill Kelly for six runs, but things got tight at the end before the Astros bullpen finally slammed the door. Houston goes for the sweep Wednesday.

The Tigers hammered Houston for six runs in the first inning to set up a 7-2 victory and a series sweep of the AL West leaders.

Expert recap and game analysis of the Houston Astros vs. Texas Rangers MLB game from 17 September 2025 on ESPN (IN).

In this thrilling recap of an unforgettable moment in baseball history, join us as the Houston Astros make their mark by throwing the second no-hitter ever recorded in World Series history. Witness the intense gameplay,

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The Astros are now two games behind Seattle, which has the tiebreaker, and also fell behind Cleveland in the AL wild-card race.