Houston Astros Move Back Into First Place

The Houston Astros have been playing great baseball all season long holding on to first place in the AL West that is, until the Oakland A's went on a tear and tied it up. Maybe that was the motivation Houston needed to spur a great outing by Justin Verlander on the mound and some great batting as the Astros beat the A's 9-4 yesterday to move back into the division lead.

Justin Verlander notched his 200th career win and sports a league-leading ERA of 1.74 on the road. He pitched 5 & 1/3 innings striking out 6, walking 1, and gave up 3 runs.

Meanwhile, the Atros bats came alive with 5 homers including a 3-run shot from Yuli Gurriel in the 3rd inning, and solo shots from Evan Gattis, Alex Bregman, Marwin Gonzales and Martin Maldonado.