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HOUSTON -- Not even a ninth-inning home run that ended his bid at a first career shutout could ruin Martin Perezs day. Perez threw a four-hitter for his first career complete game, leading the Texas Rangers to their seventh straight victory, 6-1 over the Houston Astros on Sunday. "When I go to the mound I think, Im the best here, and I have the ball," Perez said. "I just want to throw. Thats what I did tonight. I took the ball and threw the pitch where (catcher Geovany Soto) called it." Perez (5-3) struck out a career-high eight while walking two in earning his second straight win. Perez has allowed four runs over his last 22 2-3 innings, spanning his last three starts. "He threw a lot of strikes out there today," Texas manager Ron Washington said. "Hes good at keeping the ball down. He has good mechanics. I think when he gets erratic its only because he tries to do too much. As long as he stays throwing the ball through the catcher and spots his fastball down in the zone the way hes capable of doing, hell be fine." Perez retired 15 of 17 batters from the third to the eighth, including nine in a row before Jake Elmores single with two outs in the eighth. "His fastball command was there. His changeup was there," Soto said. "He had a lot of early outs in the third, fourth, fifth innings. "I think he looks a little bit different. He has more conviction, more aggressiveness, more attack. I feel like hes doing that. Whenever he needs a strike leading off the inning or leading off an at-bat, he got a strike. He uses all his pitches real well and he used all his pitches well today." The left-hander gave a lot of credit to Soto. "He helped me out with pitches, and we have a good relationship," Perez said. "He called the pitches. I just threw it 100 per cent. Hes a good catcher and called a good game." Chris Carter ruined Perezs shutout bid with a home run with two outs in the ninth inning, but Perez said the home run didnt matter because the most important thing was the Rangers won. Alex Rios had two hits, drove in a run and scored twice in his second game with the Rangers, who have won 12 of their last 13 games. Adrian Beltre also had two hits. Dallas Keuchel (5-7) allowed six runs and eight hits with eight strikeouts in 8 2-3 innings. He was the second Astros starter to go into the ninth this season, as Bud Norris threw eight-plus innings May 8 against the Los Angeles Angels. "That was the best I felt all year," Keuchel said. "(Perez) was better than me today, and I didnt make pitches when I needed to." Keuchel set down the first 13 batters before Rios beat out a grounder to short with one out in the fifth for the Rangers first hit. Soto then put the Rangers ahead 1-0 with a ground-rule double to centre field. Rios laced a two-out double down the right-field line in the sixth to extend the lead to 2-0. Elvis Andrus reached on an error with one out and advanced to second on Beltres single before scoring on Rios double. Perez had his offence to thank for the opportunity to finish off the complete game, as he was told he would not be given a chance to finish it if the Rangers did not score at least two runs in the ninth. The offence plated four in the inning. Texas upped the lead to 5-0 in the ninth on Jurickson Profars based-loaded single with two outs, plating Rios and Jeff Baker. Craig Gentry came around to score on an errant thrown by L.J. Hoes, and Profar scored on Leonys Martins single to make it 6-0. Houston has lost five in a row and nine of the last 10 games. The Astros own the worst record in the majors at 37-79. "I think we were overly aggressive," Houston manager Bo Porter said. "It would have been a better idea to slow the game down and get the pace in your favour, but it felt like the more outs (Perez) recorded, the quicker our at-bats got." NOTES: Texas DH Lance Berkman went 2 for 3 with a home run and drove in two runs in his first rehab game Saturday night for the Rangers Triple-A affiliate, Round Rock. Berkman has been on the disabled list since July 7 with left hip inflammation. . Texas RHP Neftali Feliz was expected to throw Saturday for Round Rock but did not pitch as a precaution because of mild right arm triceps tendinitis. He will throw on flat ground Sunday and be re-evaluated. Feliz has been rehabbing from Tommy John surgery last year. . Texas sent SS Leury Garcia to the White Sox on Sunday to complete the trade for Rios. . Houston SS Jonathan Villar, who had not started the previous three games because of a left thumb sprain, did not start Sundays game, either. Porter said Villar was not in the lineup Sunday because the Rangers were starting a left-hander and the thumb bothers Villar more batting right, but Villar is expected to start Monday. Custom Nike Baseball Jerseys Online . World champions Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov of Russia won the gold medal with 237.71 points, Moore-Towers and Moscovitch followed at 208.45 and Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov of Russia were third at 187. Custom Nike Baseball Jerseys Store . The parade and rally were held to celebrate the Saskatchewan Roughriders 45-23 win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Sunday in the CFLs championship game. https://www.customnikebaseballjerseys.com/241n-custom-nike-st-louis-cardinals-jerseys-baseball.html . Schenn scored the game-winning goal and added two assists to lead the Philadelphia Flyers to a 4-1 win over the Calgary Flames at the Scotiabank Saddledome on Tuesday. Custom Nike Minnesota Twins Jerseys . Michell Burger, a woman who lives on an estate next to Pistorius gated community, said she and her husband were awoken by the screams in the pre-dawn hours of Feb. 14 last year, when Pistorius killed Reeva Steenkamp by shooting four times through a door in his bathroom. Custom Nike Baseball Jerseys Outlet . -- Jimmy Walkers first PGA Tour trophy came with a special gift tucked inside. RIO DE JANEIRO -- Maybe having pros box in the Olympics isnt such a bad idea after all.While theyre at it, they might start getting some professional judges, too.A lot of what is still wrong with Olympic boxing was exposed in the heavyweight gold medal fight Monday night, when Russias Evgeny Tischenko was handed an inexplicable decision win over Vassiliy Levit of Kazakhstan in a fight that was almost as ugly as the scoring.That it came with the head of the International Olympic Committee in attendance couldnt have been good for the future of the sport. Boxing has had a rocky road in the Olympics recently, and Thomas Bach couldnt have been happy with what he saw as boos cascaded down when the unanimous decision was announced.Had Bach stuck around for the medal ceremony he would have heard even more boos, as fans expressed their displeasure once again. Standing on the medal podium, Levit put his finger to his lips in an unsuccessful attempt to stop fans from booing Tischenko as he was given the gold medal.This was supposed to be an Olympic boxing competitcoion like no other, with the men shedding headgear and the judging converted to the same type of 10-point must system used in the pro ranks. Pros were also invited to compete, although they were included so late that only three journeymen fighters signed up and all were drummed out of the competition before the first week was over.Up until the heavyweight final it had all worked fairly well. Without headgear, fans were able to see the faces of fighters, and the new scoring forced fighters to actually get into scraps instead of trying to land pitty-pat punches one at a time from the outside.The only real downside was a big increase in cuts without headgear, some of which caused competitive fights to be stopped early. That happened a few fights earlier Monday when Daniyar Yeleussinov of Kazakhstan was cut in the second round against Souleymane Cissokho of France in their welterweight semifinal.Still, boxing seemed like boxing again, a contrast to previous Olympics when headgear and a computer scoring system that awarded points for touches turned it into something more akin to fencing with gloves.The old system was put into place to get away from scoring controversies in the wake of the horrendous decision that cost Roy Jones Jr. his gold medal against a hometown fighter in Korea in 1988.dddddddddddd But judges pushing buttons seemed to get even more decisions wrong, and there was a time where the sports very future in the games was in jeopardy.Just what the three judges scoring the heavyweight final saw to award this fight to Tischenko wasnt exactly clear. Levit forced the fight, getting inside against his taller opponent and smothering his punches. It wasnt pretty by any means and neither fighter looked particularly skilled, but it was clear to almost anyone in the arena that Levit had done enough to win the fight.That included the fighter himself, who was confident right up until the decision was announced that he had won the biggest fight of his life.In my head I was thinking I won, Levit said. The coaches were quite happy.The crowd booed lustily at the decision, and kept booing long after the fighters had left the ring. The boos got louder during the medal ceremony, when Tischenko should have been enjoying his time in the spotlight.Im really upset about it, Tischenko said through an interpreter afterward. I respect my opponent and the crowd. I cannot know why they booed.If there was an Olympic moment to be taken from the night, it was the gesture of sportsmanship by Levit as the boos kept coming. He put his finger to his lips to try and silence the crowd, though with little success.Every fighter that comes to the ring deserves respect, Levit said.Boxing history, of course, is littered with decisions gone bad. Judging fights is more art than science, and what one judge sees another might not even notice.Incompetence can also play a part. So can favoring fighters for reasons other than what they do in the ring.None of that really mattered to Tischenko, who ended the night with a gold medal around his neck in an Olympics he wasnt sure he would even be in as Russia faced a possible ban for doping.They gave victory to me so there were some reasons for it, Tischenko said.Too bad no one was able to explain just what those reasons were.----Tim Dahlberg is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at tdahlberg(at)ap.org or http://twitter.com/timdahlberg ' ' '