Spencer Arrighetti carried a no-hitter into the eighth inning and Isaac Paredes provided early offensive support with a solo home run as the Houston Astros claimed the opener of a three-game series against the visiting Texas Rangers with a 2-0 victory on Friday.
Arrighetti (5-1) was exceptional throughout and found an early rhythm.
After issuing a two-out walk to Brandon Nimmo in the first inning, Arrighetti retired 11 consecutive batters. He struck out Jake Burger for the second out of the second, fanned Joc Pederson to close the third and punched out Ezequiel Duran leading off the fourth.
Nimmo was the lone batter to reach against Arrighetti until he ran into trouble in the fifth. Burger worked a one-out walk before Kyle Higashioka reached on a Paredes fielding error with two outs. But Arrighetti retired Justin Foscue on a grounder to cap the inning and keep his no-hit bid intact.
Arrighetti issued leadoff walks to Pederson and Alejandro Osuna in the sixth and eighth, respectively. After retiring Higashioka on a flyout to left in the eighth, Arrighetti surrendered a sharp single to left by Foscue that ended his no-hit hopes and concluded his outing. Arrighetti threw 102 pitches, one shy of his career high, and allowed one hit and four walks with five strikeouts over 7 1/3 innings.
Rangers right-hander Jack Leiter (1-4) nearly matched zeroes with Arrighetti. He stranded a pair of baserunners in the first and retired the side in order in the second before surrendering a 355-foot home run to left by Paredes on a 3-2 fastball with two outs in the third. Paredes’ fourth homer was the lone blemish for Leiter, who surrendered one run on three hits and three walks with six strikeouts across seven innings. Leiter threw 98 pitches, 59 for strikes.
The Astros scratched across an insurance run in the eighth off Cole Winn, who plunked Paredes with a pitch and allowed hits to Yordan Alvarez and Braden Shewmake, who extended his hitting streak to 10 games with a single to left that scored pinch runner Nick Allen.
Astros left-hander Bryan King completed the combined one-hitter with a five-out save, his fourth.
