Rangers 1, Astros 0: Martin Perez worked eight strong innings and Donnie Murphy plated Josh Wilson with a sacrifice fly in the seventh inning as host Texas rebounded from a rare loss to Houston and took the rubber match of a three-game set.

Perez (2-0) yielded five hits and three walks – allowing at least one baserunner to reach in all but one inning – but benefited from catcher Robinson Chirinos throwing out two runners and four double plays. Murphy, who replaced Elvis Andrus in the lineup after he was ejected for arguing balls and strikes before the start of the fourth, drove in the game’s only run.

Brett Oberholtzer (0-3) was a victim of minimal run support for the third time in as many outings, taking the hard-luck loss after giving up a run on five hits while striking out a career-high seven in seven innings. Every Astros starter except leadoff hitter Dexter Fowler reached base, but Houston was unable to advance a runner past first and lost for the 19th time in its last 21 meetings with Texas.

Perez got out of the second when Robbie Grossman grounded into an inning-ending 4-6-3 double play and Texas put together a rare scoring threat in the bottom half as Kevin Kouzmanoff and Michael Choice recorded back-to-back one-out singles. However, Oberholtzer fanned Chirinos and got Leonys Martin to ground out to end the threat.

Neither pitcher faced more than four batters in an inning again until the sixth, when Wilson opened with a single and moved to third on another single by Shin-Soo Choo. Murphy lifted a deep fly ball just in front of the warning track in left two pitches later and Alexi Ogando recorded his first save since 2012 when he set the Astros down in order in the ninth.

GAME NOTEBOOK: The Rangers have turned nine double plays with Perez on the mound over his last two starts. … Andrus saw his season-opening 11-game hit streak come to an end with an 0-for-2 effort on Sunday. … Texas placed 3B Adrian Beltre on the 15-day disabled list with a strained left quad prior to the start of Sunday’s game.