ARLINGTON, Texas: Adrian Beltre and Prince Fielder teamed up again in a tense Texas showdown, and this time the Rangers overtook the Houston Astros for first place in the AL West.

Beltre’s fourth hit Tuesday put the Rangers in position to win in the bottom of the ninth inning a night after Fielder pulled them within a half-game of the Astros with a tiebreaking two-run home run with Beltre aboard in the eighth.

Mitch Moreland’s sacrifice fly finished the 6-5 victory Tuesday night.

Eight games back and in third place in the division after losing on Aug. 1, the Rangers have gone 27-14 since. They’ve won five straight over the Astros, who had been in first place since July 28. Texas won the first two of this four-game series.

“They have fought, scratched, clawed all ways imaginable to get to this point,” first-year manager Jeff Banister said. “We’re not done yet.”

Fielder opened the ninth with a single to left off Oliver Perez (0-2), and pinch-runner Drew Stubbs went to third on a single from Beltre, who drove in two runs with a single in the first and a tying double in the fourth.

Moreland sent a 1-0 pitch from Will Harris to Colby Rasmus in shallow center field, but Rasmus’ throw was off target and bounced, allowing Stubbs to score easily.

Texas closer Shawn Tolleson (6-3) pitched a scoreless ninth as the Rangers (77-67) moved into sole possession of first place for the first time this year, at a season-high 10 games over .500.

The Rangers have a ½-game lead on the Astros and are 4 ahead of the Los Angles, who edged Seattle 4-3 in the AL West. Oakland thrashed the Chicago White Sox 17-6, with Josh Reddick hitting a homer and driving in four runs during a 10-run fourth inning.

Nick Franklin hit a go-ahead two-run homer in the sixth inning as the Tampa Bay Rays beat the AL wild-card leading Yankees 6-3.

Hobbled Alex Rodriguez and Greg Bird homered for the Yankees, who remain three games behind AL East-leading Toronto, which lost 3-2 at Atlanta.

Andrelton Simmons’ tiebreaking RBI single in the ninth inning ended a 12-game home losing streak for the Atlanta Braves.

Toronto began the night with a three-game lead over the New York Yankees, but the Blue Jays, despite the majors’ best record since the All-Star break, have lost two straight.

The Braves ended the longest home skid in franchise history. They began the game 14-46 overall since July 8.

The AL-Central leading Kansas City Royals beat Cleveland 2-0, and Detroit had a 5-4 win over Minnesota.

At Pittsburgh, Jon Lester limited the Pirates to five hits while picking up his first complete game of the season and the Chicago Cubs earned a doubleheader split with a 2-1 win.

The Pirates took the first game 5-4 when Pedro Florimon scored on Starling Marte’s sacrifice fly in the eighth, but they couldn’t complete the sweep as the Cubs pulled back within four games of Pittsburgh for the top spot in the NL wild-card race.

Lester (10-10) walked one and struck out nine while picking up his 12th career complete game.

The Marlins had a 9-3 win in New York to end the Mets’ eight-game winning streak,

Jacob deGrom was hit hard during a rare dud at home against one of his favorite opponents. Mets nemesis Dee Gordon homered and had four hits to back Tom Koehler, who plunked Yoenis Cespedes in the first inning and then helped silence the streaking slugger the rest of the way.

New York’s commanding lead in the NL East was trimmed to 8 1/2 games over Washington, which beat Philadelphia 4-0. The magic number remained 10 for the Mets to clinch their sixth division title.

Stephen Strasburg gave up one hit and tied a career-best with 14 strikeouts in eight dominant innings and Bryce Harper hit two homers for the Nationals.

In other games, the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Brewers 3-1 in 10 innings, Arizona beat San Diego 6-4, Cincinnati edged San Francisco 9-8 in 10 innings and