Cole held the Rangers to one run on three hits with eight strikeouts over six innings on Thursday. He has 124 strikeouts on the year, the most by an Astros pitcher prior to the All-Star break since Darryl Kile had 128 in 1996.
Blackburn won his season debut against KC on Thursday, yielding one run on three hits in six innings and needing just 67 pitches. He didn’t walk a batter and struck out three. Blackburn missed the first two months of the season with a forearm strain.