The Texas Rangers have a two-game lead in the American League Championship Series after a 5-4 win over the Houston Astros in Game 2 on Monday.
The Rangers piled on the offense early and held off a late rally to secure their seventh consecutive win and continue an undefeated postseason run as the series moves to Arlington on Wednesday.
Texas jumped on Houston starter Framber Valdez for four runs in the first inning as all nine hitters came to the plate. Marcus Semien scored the game’s first run on an error, and Adolis Garcia, Mitch Garver, and Nathaniel Lowe all added RBI singles as the Rangers circled the basepaths.
“It’s always good to get a crooked number up there, especially early, and it held up for us,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy told members of the media after the game. “It’s about putting the ball in play, and we did that in the first inning.”
Houston finally got on the board with a Yordan Alvarez home run in the fourth, but Jonah Heim responded with a solo shot of his own to make it 5-1 Texas in the final.
Starting pitcher Nathan Eovaldi pitched his third consecutive quality start in a playoff game, lasting six innings and striking out nine. However, while he had held his previous opponents to just one run each, Houston’s offense found ways to be more productive — blasting two home runs and an RBI double to score three runs.
Josh Sborz pitched a scoreless seventh, but Aroldis Chapman ran into trouble in the eighth. After retiring the inning’s first two hitters, Chapman gave up a home run to Alvarez to make it a one-run game. After the next two batters walked, Houston had the tying run in scoring position. Luckily, Chapman induced a groundout from Chas McCormick to end the threat and preserve the head, and Jose LeClerc pitched another perfect inning to secure the win.
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WHAT TO KNOW
— The Texas Rangers took a 2-0 lead in the American League Championship Series with a 5-4 win over the Houston Astros in Game 2 on the road.
— The Rangers are 7-0 this postseason and two wins away from advancing to their first World Series since 2011. They are just the seventh team since 1995 to begin the playoffs with at least six consecutive wins.
— Starting pitcher Nathan Eovaldi improved to 3-0 this postseason with his third straight quality start.
— The series shifts to Arlington for Games 3, 4, and 5.
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BY THE NUMBERS
— Texas is now 9-5 all-time in Game 2 of playoff series.
— Manager Bruce Bochy now has 51 career playoff wins, three behind Houston manager Dusty Baker for fourth all-time.
— The Rangers have four players hitting above .300 this postseason, while the pitching staff has a 2.14 collective ERA.
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WHO SAID
— Bocy on Leody Taveras’ impact as the ninth hitter: “That’s what you’re looking for from the guy hitting ninth. He’s done a great job of doing that all year — taking his walks and getting base hits, too. He’s got a good eye at the plate, and he’s gotten so much better at that. That’s probably the biggest improvement in his game is not expanding the zone and taking his walks…”
— Eovaldi on coming home with a 2-0 lead: “It’s huge. The momentum’s in our favor, but we can’t let the guard down at all right now. The Astros are an incredible team. They have the lineup from top to bottom, and they’ve got good pitching. We’ve just got to keep doing what we’ve been doing…”
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NEXT UP
— The Rangers host the Astros in Game 3 of the ALCS at 7:03 p.m. CT at Globe Life Field on Wednesday. Max Scherzer will make the start as he returns from injury against Houston’s Cristian Javier.