HOUSTON (AP) ― With every swing and miss, this looked as if it might be the day Yu Darvish pitched a no-hitter against the overmatched Houston Astros.

And then with one out in the eighth inning, Carlos Corporan ended Darvish’s latest bid with a home run.

Darvish once again neared perfection versus Houston, striking out a career-high 15 and permitting only one hit in eight innings as the Texas Rangers won 2-1 Monday for their season-high eighth straight victory.

“A win’s a win,” Darvish said through a translator. “I’m just glad I was a big part of this win.”

Texas won for the 13th time in 14 games and headed home atop the AL West.

In early April, Darvish (12-5) was one out away from a perfect game at Minute Maid Park before Marwin Gonzalez singled between his legs. Darvish joined Nolan Ryan as the only pitchers in team history to have more than one start of at least eight innings with one hit or less.

Darvish became the first pitcher to have two no-hitters broken up in the eighth inning or later since it happened to Justin Verlander in 2011.

Latos leads Reds past Cubs

CHICAGO (AP) ― Mat Latos threw eight scoreless innings, and Brandon Phillips hit a two-run homer in the seventh inning to lead the Cincinnati Reds to a 2-0 win over All-Star Travis Wood and the Chicago Cubs on Monday night.

Latos, who had been 3-0 with a 1.73 ERA since the All-Star break, allowed six hits and struck out nine for the Reds, who gained a half-game on idle Pittsburgh and St. Louis in the NL Central.

Aroldis Chapman struck out the side in the ninth inning for his 28th save in 32 tries to hand the Cubs their third straight home shutout loss. They have gone 32 2/3 innings without a run at Wrigley Field.

Phillips provided all the offense with his 15th homer of the season. He hit an 0-2 pitch from Wood to score Todd Frazier, who had walked.

Latos (12-3) gave the Reds bullpen a much needed rest after Cincinnati used six relievers for a combined six innings of work Sunday in a 3-2, 13-inning win over San Diego.

Minnesota 3, Cleveland 0

Oakland 5, Toronto 1

NY Yankees 2, LA Angels 1

Philadelphia 5, Atlanta 1

Chicago White Sox 6, Detroit 2

Kansas City 6, Miami 2

LA Dodgers 4, NY Mets 2

Colorado 14, San Diego 2

Arizona 7, Baltimore 6