Rangers 7, Astros 0
Rangers 7, Astros 0: Yu Darvish retired the first 26 batters he faced before Marwin Gonzalez's single up the middle with two outs in the ninth ended his perfect-game bid, but racked up a career-high 14 strikeouts as visiting Texas evened the series at a game apiece.
Darvish (1-0) was one out away from becoming the first player in major-league history to throw a perfect game in his first outing of the season when Gonzalez lined a hard grounder between Darvish's legs and into center field. With Darvish at 111 pitches, Michael Kirkman came on to record the final out, but not before giving up a single to Jose Altuve.
Astros starter Lucas Harrell (0-1) kept his team in it for much of the night, limiting the Rangers to one run on six hits over six innings. His only blemish came in the third, when Craig Gentry doubled and scored on Lance Berkman's RBI single.
The Rangers touched up Houston's bullpen as Ian Kinsler's two-run homer against Rhiner Cruz in the seventh added to the cushion.
Texas tacked on two more runs in the eighth on Nelson Cruz's RBI double and Mitch Moreland's sacrifice fly and plated a couple more in the ninth when Elvis Andrus tripled home a run and scored on Berkman's single.
GAME NOTEBOOK: The last no-hitter by a Rangers pitcher was Kenny Rogers' perfect game against the Los Angeles Angels in 1994. … Berkman has hit safely in his last 14 games at Minute Maid Park, including all 11 contests against Houston - the team he played for from 1999-2010. … The Astros have struck out 28 times through two games.