After moving one-half game ahead of the slumping New York Yankees for the AL's best record with a win over the Texas Rangers, the Houston Astros were already looking ahead to their next challenge. They are determined to play better against the visiting Athletics this weekend after the AL West bottom-dwellers swept them in Oakland late last month. "There's a lot of baseball left and we've got to keep working," catcher MartÃn Maldonado said. "We've got a new series coming up and we've got to take that series more seriously after we got swept by them last time. We've got ... to have that winning mentality, especially in those three games." Framber Valdez threw seven shutout innings, Maldonado and Alex Bregman homered with three RBI each, and the Astros beat the Rangers 7-3 on Thursday in manager Dusty Baker's return after he missed five games with COVID-19. read https://www.espn.com/mlb/recap?gameId=401355894
