The Rangers were swept by the Astros 5-2, losing the Silver Boot Series and shrinking their playoff odds with nine games left.

Jacob deGrom allowed five earned runs in five innings as Texas’ rotation yielded 14 ER in the series—the most this season for a three-game set.

Jung’s moonshot double and Freeman’s RBI single in the second tied the game, but Altuve’s two-run homer and Peña’s fifth-inning shot widened Houston’s lead.

Houston retains the Silver Boot edge while Texas sits five back of the second Wild Card, facing a tough closing stretch that demands both pitching and offense to rebound.

Gavin Williams pitched five innings of no-run ball with 9 strikeouts as Cleveland blanked Detroit 4-0, setting the table for a late-inning Guardians burst. George Valera opened the scoring with an opposite-field line drive off Flaherty, Martinez knocked in Arias, and Bo Naylor plated a pair with a perfectly placed Jose Urquidy changeup to right, bringing home Ramirez and Schneemann. The bullpen preserved the lead with four scoreless innings, and Cleveland exploited a rare walk by Jose in the ninth to seal the win.

The victory stands as a timely reminder that luck and timely hitting can carry a playoff-hungry club through a rough stretch. Williams lowered his ERA to 3.06, the bullpen locked down the Tigers, and Cleveland will lean on its top nine as they chase another big September result against Tarik Skubal tomorrow.

Texas watched its playoff bid fade as Houston swept, failing to claim the Silver Boot for the first time since 2016 while the Rangers’ rotation and offense stumbled in clutch moments.

Houston closed it out with late bullpen work, capped by Phil Maton sealing the last Astros at-bat. A day off follows for Texas before a final homestand vs. Miami, setting the stage for a sprint to the finish and plenty of fantasy-watchers recalibrating based on DeGrom’s five-run five-inning night, bullpen volatility, and the Marlins series on the horizon.