ARLINGTON, Texas -- George Springer set a positive tone right away for the Houston Astros against Yu Darvish.And they held on to avoid a late-season sweep, beating AL-best Texas 7-6 on Sunday and ending the Rangers seven-game winning streak.Springer led off the game with his 26th homer and scored his 100th run, and the Astros jumped out to a 5-0 lead against Darvish, whose shortest outing of the season lasted only four innings.That was a big win for us on a lot of levels. No. 1, to jump out ahead on Darvish, manager A.J. Hinch said. Its a good feeling getting on the plane, obviously, to salvage a game.The Astros, who have 24 games left, are still 9 1/2 games behind Texas in the AL West, and have won only three of 16 games against their division rival this season. And they have only three more head-to-head meetings remaining.Evan Gattis also homered for the Astros, though he struck out in each of his other four at-bats. His 24th homer was a solo shot in the fifth for a 6-2 lead right.Darvish (5-4), in his shortest outing this season, allowed five runs in four innings. He struck out four, walked three and had two wild pitches.Got him out of the game and got into their bullpen and fortunate enough to come out of here with a win, said rookie Alex Bregman, who had three hits. Thats what you have to do against good teams like this, get ahead of them early and continue to apply pressure.Chris Devenski (3-4) pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings after taking over for starter Collin McHugh with one out in bottom of the fifth when the Rangers still had a runner on base and had already scored three runs in the inning to get within 6-5.I hung some. I made some good pitches, and I made some bad pitches. All the bad pitches got hit, McHugh said. Anything you can win a game on the road in the division, its a commodity. You take `em where you can get `em. Its not the prettiest of wins, especially here.CLOSING IT OUTKen Giles pitched the ninth for his eighth save in 11 chances. The final out coming when the right-hander struck out hot-hitting Rougned Odor, who had three hits and three RBI earlier in the game. Ian Desmond had a leadoff triple in the ninth and scored on Adrian Beltres groundout.BRUISED AND BLEEDINGRangers LF Carlos Gomez had blood streaming down his face after getting cut by his own helmet when sliding headfirst into second base on a stolen base in the sixth inning. The helmet popped off, bounced off the ground and into his face. A trainer came out and looked at Gomez, who then disappeared briefly into the dugout before returning with two bandages -- one on the bridge of his nose, and another over the top corner of his left eye. A few pitches later, he was picked off second base.TRAINERS ROOMAstros: Jose Altuve was the DH a day after suffering a cramp in his calf coming out of the batters box when he grounded into a game-ending double play. ... Hinch said INF Marwin Gonzalez was available as a defensive replacement or pinch-hitter, he hasnt played since leaving midway through Wednesday game because of a right hamstring injury. ... LHP Dallas Keuchel played catch for the first time since his scheduled start Friday was pushed back due to arm fatigue. Hinch said the Astros arent sure if hell pitch Tuesday.Rangers: C Jonathan Lucroy was back in the lineup and not feeling any lingering issues from flu-like symptoms that kept him to miss Saturdays game. ... RHP Keone Kela said he was OK after a liner deflected off the palm of his right hand in Saturdays game.UP NEXTAstros: Continue their stretch of 13 consecutive games against division leaders. They open a four-game series Monday at AL Central leader Cleveland before going home to play the NL Central-leading Chicago Cubs and the Rangers.Rangers: Open a 10-game road trip when they will face three AL West rivals. That starts Monday in Seattle, and ends the following week with three games in Houston. Adam Eaton Jersey . The Brazilian goalkeeper signed a loan deal with the Major League Soccer club on Friday as he looks to get playing time ahead of this summers World Cup in his home country. Custom Washington Nationals Jerseys . Ryan Garbutt had a goal and two assists as Dallas snapped a six-game losing streak with a 5-2 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday night. http://www.officialnationalsgearshop.com/Nationals-Max-Scherzer-Kids-Jersey/ . Laudrup revealed Thursday he was notified of his dismissal in "the briefest of letters which gave no reasons why such hasty and final action was deemed necessary. Trea Turner Jersey . -- Jimmie Johnson held off a teammate, passed a pair of Hall of Famers, and dominated once more at Dover. Tanner Roark Jersey . LOUIS -- Heading into the final stretch of the season, the issues for the Chicago Bears banged-up defence only seem to be getting worse. DALLAS -- Chris Paul had to be reminded that the Los Angeles Clippers are up to an NBA-leading 14 wins.They wont get much easier than this one over the injury-plagued Dallas Mavericks.Paul scored 18 points, DeAndre Jordan had 16 points and eight rebounds and the Clippers cruised past the Mavericks 124-104 on Wednesday night in a matchup of the teams with the best and worst records in the NBA.I honestly didnt know we had 14 wins, said Paul, who added four assists and four steals. I know we have two losses. But for us, when youve been in this league for a while, its not necessarily about the wins. Its about how youre playing and about the spirit.Dirk Nowitzki scored 10 points on 3-of-10 shooting in 20 minutes in his return for Dallas after the 13-time All-Star missed eight games with a strained left Achilles tendon.Austin Rivers added 22 points -- half of them in a meaningless fourth quarter -- for the Clippers. They had a 30-6 run in the second and third quarters on the way to their fourth straight win and 11th in 12 games.Harrison Barnes had 22 to lead the Mavericks (2-12). They lost their seventh straight game to match their longest skid since February 1999, during Nowitzkis rookie season.Dallas, missing its top three point guards and facing a trip to defending champion Cleveland, is off to its worst start since going 1-23 in 1993-94. The Mavericks started the week with a valiant effort in a loss at San Antonio.This is obviously as tough a week as you can get in the NBA, Nowitzki said. So hopefully well fight through this and grind out a win here and there. And when the schedule turns in our favor hopefully get more healthy and run off some wins. Thats the only way to do it.Blake Griffin had 12 points, seven assists and six rebounds, all in the first three quarters along with the rest of the starters. The Clippers led by 31 in the third.Rivers scored 11 points in the first half, including 3-pointers just four seconds apart after he hit one, stole the inbound pass and made another. He was 6 of 7 from long range.TIP-INSClippers: LA shot 61 percent in the first half and made 9 of 14 from 3-point range. ... Marrreese Speights scored 16 and Jamal Crawford added 15 as the Clippers had a 65-43 advantage in bench scoring.dddddddddddd ... Speights had his first double-double with a season-high 12 rebounds. The 16 points matched his season high. ... JJ Redick had 10 points.Mavericks: PG Deron Williams sat for the eighth time in nine games with a left calf strain. He said hes hopeful to play next week. ... C Andrew Bogut was called for a flagrant foul on a hip-check of Paul as the Clippers point guard drove to the basket. Paul jumped up and went at Bogut, and the pair kept jawing as the referees prepared to review the play. ... Bogut had 12 rebounds and six assists after missing a game with a sore right calf.COWBOY UPThe Clippers will stay in the Dallas area to attend the Washington Redskins-Dallas Cowboys game on Thanksgiving before continuing a six-game trip Friday at Detroit. Paul is a well-documented fan of the Cowboys, who have the NFLs best record at 9-1. He wore the jersey of rookie running back Ezekiel Elliott, the NFLs rushing leader, on the flight from Los Angeles. Paul has attended Cowboys training camp in the LA area.While acknowledging that his team has a bevy of Dallas fans, Clippers coach and Chicago Bears fan Doc Rivers had a parting shot for reporters. Im not going to call you any of you guys bandwagon, OK, but this is the first time you guys have mentioned the Cowboys in like four years, Rivers said.LOSING THE LUSTERThe boos were still there for Jordan, who spurned the Mavericks in free agency in the summer of 2015 after agreeing to join them. But they werent quite as loud or persistent as the 6-foot-11 centers two visits last season.UP NEXTClippers: The visit to the Pistons on the seasons longest trip is the first of four straight against Eastern Conference teams. Defending champion Cleveland is the last of those four opponents.Mavericks: A quick trip to face LeBron James, another Cowboys fan, and the Cavaliers on Friday before home games against New Orleans and San Antonio. ' ' '