The Texas Rangers suffered their first loss of the 2023 MLB postseason as the Houston Astros earned an 8-5 win in Game 3 of the American League Championship Series (ALCS) in Arlington on Wednesday night.
While Texas’ offense had started quickly throughout the playoffs, Houston’s offense struck first on Wednesday. The Astros got to Rangers starter Max Scherzer, making his first start since September 12, for five runs in the first four innings, while the Rangers remained without a hit until the fifth.
“He’s going to be a little rusty,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy told the media of Scherzer during his postgame press conference. “It’s been a month since he’s been out there. Overall, though, I was really pleased with the stuff. It’s only going to get better with him.”
A wild pitch from Scherzer with the bases loaded allowed the first to score in the second inning, and Martin Maldonado followed with an RBI single. Jose Altuve led off the next inning with a home run, and Jose Abreu came around to score after doubling in the fourth.
Trailing 5-0, Texas first baseman Nathaniel Lowe knocked a single to left, and rookie third baseman Josh Jung delivered with a two-run blast to right-center to get the Rangers on the board.
Evan Carter doubled in the sixth to give the Rangers another scoring threat, but Houston left fielder Michael Brantley made a diving grab to take extra bases away from Adolis Garcia and end the inning.
The Texas bullpen held it together for two innings after Scherzer departed, but the Astros struck again in the seventh — loading the bases with one out before Yordan Alvarez came through with a two-RBI single to open up a 7-2 lead.
Deja vu struck in the bottom of the seventh as Lowe singled again, and Jung sent another two-run shot to centerfield to cut the lead to three. Houston added an insurance run, and Garcia singled in Marcus Semien to make it 8-5 entering the final inning.
The Astros threatened again in the ninth, but the Rangers threw out Alvarez at home. Texas then put a runner on base in the bottom of the inning for Jung, who grounded into a double play to end the game.
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WHAT TO KNOW
— The Texas Rangers lost for the first time this postseason, ending a franchise record seven-game playoff winning streak.
— Texas leads the series 2-1. The next two games of the series will be played in Arlington, and if necessary, Games 6 and 7 will be played in Houston.
— Texas needs two more wins to win the American League and reach the World Series, whereas defending champion Houston needs three.
— The Rangers have not reached the World Series since 2011, and the Astros are playing in their seventh consecutive ALCS.
— Scherzer made his 23rd career playoff start, tying John Lackey and C.C. Sabathia for the eighth-most all-time. He is the oldest starting pitcher to start a playoff game for the franchise.
— Houston’s Javier is the first starting pitcher not to be given a loss against the Rangers this postseason.
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BY THE NUMBERS
— Scherzer allowed eight earned runs over two regular-season starts against Houston and gave up five on Wednesday.
— Jung went 1-7 over the series’ first two games but was one of only two Rangers’ hitters with multiple hits on Wednesday.
— The Rangers are now 10-5 all-time in the ALCS and 5-1 in ALCS home games.
— The Astros are 7-1 at Globe Life Field this season.
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WHO SAID
— Bochy on Jung’s performance: “The kid did a great job getting us back in the game a couple times with the long ball. We weren’t doing much off Javier, but he came through.”
— Javier on his pitching command: “I felt very good. I was very happy with everything the pitches were doing. They were doing exactly what I wanted to do, and I was able to control them in the strike zone.”
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NEXT UP
— Game 4 of the ALCS is scheduled for 7:03 p.m. CT on Thursday.
