Houston at Texas

Houston beat the Rangers 7-2 on Wednesday as Jake Meyers and Marwin Gonzalez hit consecutive homers in a three-run second inning for the Astros, who hold a seven-game lead in the AL West. Texas has been playing better of late, but the Rangers still are on pace to lose 100 games, and Glenn Otto will make his fourth start of the season after getting destroyed by the Athletics on Friday. Otto gave up eight runs on eight hits in 3 1/3 innings in 10-5 loss. Houston is 39-19 the past 58 meetings with Texas, 36-17 versus AL West teams. Also, the Astros are 91-43 their past 134 games after giving up two or fewer runs their previous game. The Rangers have lost 18 of 25 versus left-handed starters and Framber Valdez has allowed only two runs on three hits in 13 innings against Texas this year. Take the Astros as my second Max Play.