Club president Nolan Ryan, after spending three days sitting with his wife Ruth in the second row behind home plate, was beaming in the Rangers’ clubhouse on Sunday afternoon. “Those are the fun ones,” Ryan said with a big smile. The Hall of Famer certainly had reason to enjoy himself on Sunday while watching Brandon McCarthy finish off the Rangers’ three-game sweep of the Astros in the Lone Star Series. McCarthy, perhaps showing a good sense of timing, pitched the first shutout of his career in a 5-0 victory at Minute Maid Park. The three successive victories over the Astros this weekend came right after the Rangers had been swept by the Tigers at the beginning of the roadtrip in Detroit. “It was just good to get out of Detroit,” outfielder Marlon Byrd said. “We came down here and got back on track. Our pitching stepped up and the offense stepped up, now we just need to carry it over against the Yankees.” The Rangers, sitting in first place in the American League West, go into their three-game series with the Yankees on Monday having won 20 of their past 28 games, and they left Houston having made a deep impression on Astros manager Cecil Cooper. “They’ve got all sorts of hitters,” Cooper said. “They’ve got left, right, they’ve got young guys, veteran guys … but what I’m most impressed about their club is the way they pitched and caught the ball. That’s why they’re where they are.” McCarthy definitely pitched on Sunday. He allowed nine hits, making this the fifth time in Rangers history that a pitcher has thrown a shutout while allowing at least nine hits. Rick Helling had been the last to do it on May 6, 1994, in a nine-hitter against the Twins. Gaylord Perry pitched an 11-hit shutout in 1977 against the Blue Jays and Bert Blyleven had a 10-hitter against the White Sox in ’76. McCarthy made up for the high number of hits by walking just one batter and holding the Astros to 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position. He struck out six.

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