Dallas Keuchel had a different catcher before throwing his first pitch for the Houston Astros on Tuesday night.


Everything worked out just fine with Tim Federowicz behind the plate with the former AL Cy Young Award winner throwing some of his best breaking pitches all season.

Keuchel struck out seven and allowed only two runs over seven scoreless innings Dolphins Cheap Jerseys , winning for only the second time in his last nine starts, as the Astros beat the Texas Rangers 5-3.

”Some of the shape it was taking early was really good. (Shin-Soo) Choo leading off the game, anytime you get him to swing and miss at a breaking pitch, it’s acting pretty good, and then (Nomar) Mazara struck out looking with a slider away,” Keuchel said. ”Both of those balls had good action and I knew from the then on if I could establish the fastball in to the lefties, it would be a good day.”

Josh Reddick and Tony Kemp homered for the Astros, who are 11-4 this season against their instate division rival, with seven consecutive road wins in the series. Houston is a majors-best 31-14 on the road this season.

Keuchel (5-8) struck out the first four batters he faced, and six of the first seven.

After catcher Brian McCann went on the disabled list and had arthroscopic surgery on his right knee earlier Tuesday, manager A.J. Hinch said Max Stassi would do the bulk of the catching. But Stassi got hit by a pitch batting in the first, and left the game with a bruised right (throwing) wrist before even taking the field on defense.

”I think we avoided a fracture, very good for us Vikings Cheap Jerseys ,” manager A.J. Hinch said. ”Got him pretty good in the wrist. Got a welt there, couldn’t flex his hand, hand so mobility.”

X-rays were negative and Stassi is considered day to day.

Keuchel had only thrown a few bullpens with Federowicz in spring training, and a live BP session, before the catcher was called back from Triple-A Fresno earlier Tuesday.

”The way he handled the game not expecting to play, that was really impressive,” Keuchel said.

Choo later walked twice and had two singles to extend his career-best on-base streak to 43 games, the longest in the majors since Atlanta’s Freddie Freeman’s 46-gamer two years ago. Choo is three games shy of Julio Franco’s team record of 46 in a row set 25 years ago.

The Astros used three relievers to get through the eighth. Texas already had a run in before Hector Rondon took over against pinch-hitter Joey Gallo, who worked a 12-pitch at-bat into a two-out walk to load the bases before Robinson Chirinos struck out. Rondon then worked the ninth for his sixth save in eight chances.

Houston went ahead to stay in the first when Yuli Gurriel and Reddick had RBI doubles off Austin Bibens-Dirkx (1-2), who still managed to get through six innings. He struck out four, walked two and hit two batters.

”To get through six in that situation was huge for us,” manager Jeff Banister said. ”Early on it didn’t look that it was going to be the case, a situation where really didn’t have a whole lot of sink on the fastball. … For us to still have an opportunity there through those innings Youth Sam Hubbard Jersey , it was big-time by him.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Astros: SS Carlos Correa, out since June 26 with lower back soreness, has been working out daily in Houston. Hinch said it was uncertain if Correa will be ready to play Friday when eligible to come off the DL. He hadn’t gone through any baseball activities yet.

Rangers: RHP Tony Barnette left the game after a 2-1 pitch to Marwin Gonzalez in the eighth. The Rangers said he had a right shoulder strain and would be evaluated further Wednesday. … 1B Ronald Guzman had two hits and scored twice after being activated from the seven-day concussion DL.

SHORT HOPS

The Astros have homered in 23 consecutive road games, a club record and four from matching the MLB record set by Oakland earlier this season. … Before Bibens-Dirkx plunked Stassi in the first inning, Rangers pitchers had gone 22 games without hitting a batter – the longest span for the team since 1998.

DOUBLE DOUBLED UP

Astros leadoff hitter George Springer was in a 3-for-46 slide before a single in the sixth. But he was also doubled off twice on hard lineouts.

UP NEXT

Gerrit Cole (9-2) will pitch on regular rest for the Astros after they made a slight tweak in their rotation. Lance McCullers Jr., who was scheduled to start, was instead pushed back to Friday. Rangers lefty Mike Minor (6-4) took a perfect game into the seventh inning of his last start, a win last Wednesday over the San Diego Padres.

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xpect the 17 activists to face charges. He says Metro Transit respects people’s right to free speech and demonstration.

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5:44 p.m.

The Philadelphia Eagles have settled for Jake Elliott’s 25-yard field goal and a 3-0 lead over the New England Patriots on the opening drive of the Super Bowl.

The Eagles had a first down at the 5 after Corey Clement’s 16-yard gain on a catch and run. But a penalty and two incomplete passes forced Philadelphia to settle for the field goal.

The Patriots will take over looking for their first points in the first quarter in eight Super Bowl appearances with quarterback Tom Brady.

Quarterback Nick Foles had completions of 17 yards to Alshon Jeffery and 15 yards to Torrey Smith the play after Smith had a drop on second down.

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5:27 p.m.

The New England Patriots have won the opening coin toss for the Super Bowl and have deferred to the second half.

The Philadelphia Eagles will start the game with the ball and hope to be the first team to score on the opening possession of the Super Bowl since Devin Hester returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown for Chicago against Indianapolis in the 2007 game.

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4:45 p.m.

Carson Wentz is throwing passes in warmups for the Philadelphia Eagles.

The injured quarterback was walking gingerly and not stepping into the throws as he worked alongside starter Nick Foles.

Wentz tore a ligament in his left knee against the Los Angeles Rams in Week 14. Foles led playoff wins against Atlanta and Minnesota.

Foles is trying to join Bob Griese, Doug Williams and Jeff Hostetler as backups to win Super Bowls after starting no more than five games during the regular season.

The Eagles are playing the New England Patriots, who are trying to win their sixth Super Bowl with quarterback Tom Brady.

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4:20 p.m.

Winning the NFL MVP award might not be a great omen for Tom Brady.

The past eight winners of the AP MVP award to reach the Super Bowl have lost the game, including Brady in the 2007 season against the New York Giants.

The other MVPs to lose the big game since Kurt Warner did the regular season-Super Bowl MVP double in the 1999 season for the Rams are: Warner (2001), Rich Gannon (2002), Shaun Alexander (2005) Youth Malik Jefferson Jersey , Peyton Manning (2009 and 2013), Cam Newton (2015) and Matt Ryan (2016).

Brady would rather join Warner, Steve Young (1994), Emmitt Smith (1993), Joe Montana (1989), Terry Bradshaw (1978) and Bart Starr (1966) as the players to win the regular season and Super Bowl MVPs in the same season.

– Josh Dubow

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3 p.m.

The coldest Super Bowl Sunday won’t be felt inside cozy U.S. Bank Stadium.

The overnight temperature in Minneapolis reached minus-6 degrees and was up to 2 degrees around four hours before kickoff between the New England Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles.

The coldest previous range was the Detroit Super Bowl in 1982, with a low of 5 degrees and a high of 16 when it was played at the Silverdome. There was a chance for the Minneapolis high to reach 5 on Sunday.

When the Super Bowl was in Minnesota at the Metrodome in 1992, the outside temperature at kickoff was 26 degrees. That’s the average high here for Feb. 4.

The coldest outdoor game in Super Bowl history was in New Orleans at Tulane Stadium in 1972, when the kickoff temperature was 39 degrees.

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