Current:Home > StocksRangers hold off Astros in Game 2 to take commanding ALCS lead, stay perfect in MLB playoffs-LoTradeCoin
Rangers hold off Astros in Game 2 to take commanding ALCS lead, stay perfect in MLB playoffs
View Date:2024-12-23 18:50:25
The Texas Rangers are playing practically perfect baseball right now. And even when they err, they have a knack to pick each other up.
And perhaps that’s the biggest gulf between them and the Houston Astros right now.
The Rangers moved within two victories of the World Series and remained perfect in this remarkable postseason run by defeating the Astros, 5-4, in Game 2 of the American League Championship Series.
Thanks to yet another postseason masterclass from Nate Eovaldi, the Rangers took a 2-0 lead in this ALCS, improved to 7-0 this postseason – with six wins on the road – and will head home to Arlington needing two wins in three games to reach their first Fall Classic since 2011.
And in a battle between a club in its first postseason since 2016 and a dynasty playing in its seventh ALCS, it’s the upstarts who are keeping their head.
FOLLOW THE MONEY: MLB player salaries and payrolls for every major league team
The Rangers grabbed control of this game when they rapped five singles in the top of the first inning – all sandwiched around a huge misplay by Astros starter Framber Valdez, who misplayed Robbie Grossman’s nubber in front of the plate and threw the ball away, earning two errors on the play. It was 4-0 before every worker could get away from the job and into their Minute Maid Park seats.
But the Astros are hard to kill – in a game, a series, in this seven-year run of prosperity, evidenced by Yordan Alvarez’s two-homer game that kept bringing the Astros back in it.
And when Rangers third baseman Josh Jung misplayed a softly-hit grounder from Jeremy Peña in the bottom of the fifth, the 42,879 on hand sensed it was the opening they needed to get back in the series.
Bases loaded. Nobody out in a 5-2 game. And rookie catcher Yainer Diaz pinch-hitting to go for the jugular, the top of the lineup to follow.
And this is where Eovaldi showed his October mettle.
In a seven-pitch battle, he bested Diaz on a 2-2 curveball. The great Jose Altuve struck out on a 1-2 splitter. And Alex Bregman – who homered earlier – could only roll a ground ball to Jung at third, where he made the most of his second chance.
Threat over.
"I think you're talking about one of the elite pitchers in the game," Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said in his postgame press conference. "They have that ability to turn up a notch when they have to.
"That was the turning point in the game, bases loaded and nobody out in the fifth. Found a way to get through it. And terrific job by him."
Eovaldi, 33, was making his 14th postseason appearance and ninth start, a kaleidoscope of achievements that included a gallant but losing relief effort in a World Series, a wild-card game conquest at Fenway Park, and a closeout game in the AL Division Series against Baltimore.
He finds comfort on the big stage.
"I feel like in those big moments you've got to bear down and make big pitches," Eovaldi told reporters in Houston after Game 2. "The stadium is crazy. You have all the fans and everything going nuts. But at the same time you try to simplify everything down to your strengths and what you do best."
After beguiling the Astros with 29 split-finger fastballs among his 91 pitches, his career postseason ERA is now 2.87, a pillar of reliability in a sport – and in a month – where starting pitching is ever harder to come by.
He’s also now backed by a bullpen that suddenly found itself under Bochy's steady postseason hand.
Eovaldi’s six-inning, three-run effort gave way to yet another clean effort from right-hander Josh Sborz, he of the 5.50 regular season ERA but five scoreless outings in the playoffs. Aroldis Chapman gave up the second of Alvarez’s home runs in the eighth, making it 5-4, but like all three Astros homers in Game 2, they came with the bases empty.
Jose Leclerc, who has pitched in all seven playoff games, was summoned for a four-out save and converted his second in as many nights.
And the Rangers are creeping ever closer to dethroning the defending World Series champs.
"We've only had one game at home, we played extremely well," says second baseman Marcus Semien. "So it will be fun to get back in front of the home crowd. With that being said, Houston has been playing well in that building, too.
"We need to buckle down when we get there and play some good baseball, like we've been doing."
veryGood! (66487)
Related
- Bodyless head washes ashore on a South Florida beach
- Biden administration says it wants to cap rent increases at 5% a year. Here's what to know.
- Barstool owner rescued by Coast Guard after losing control of boat off Nantucket
- New livestream shows hundreds of rattlesnakes, many of them pregnant, congregating at mega-den in Colorado
- Elon Musk says 'SNL' is 'so mad' Trump won as he slams Dana Carvey's impression
- Trump picks Sen. JD Vance as VP running mate for 2024 election
- Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Crack Open
- Violence plagued officials all levels of American politics long before the attempt on Trump’s life
- Darren Criss on why playing a robot in 'Maybe Happy Ending' makes him want to cry
- Violence plagued officials all levels of American politics long before the attempt on Trump’s life
Ranking
- Tuskegee University closes its campus to the public, fires security chief after shooting
- Will SEC officials call a penalty for Horns Down against Texas? It depends on context
- In NBC interview, Biden says he shouldn't have said bullseye when referring to Trump, but says former president is the one engaged in dangerous rhetoric
- After Trump assassination attempt, CEOs speak out but stay mum on election
- Fate of Netflix Series America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders Revealed
- Texas set to execute Ruben Gutierrez in retired teacher's death on Tuesday. What to know.
- Emma Roberts Engaged to Actor Cody John: See Her Ring
- A Baltimore man died after being sedated and restrained by medics. His mom wants answers
Recommendation
-
Quincy Jones laid to rest at private family funeral in Los Angeles
-
Horoscopes Today, July 15, 2024
-
Victim of Texas inmate set for execution was loving schoolteacher, pillar of her community
-
A Baltimore man died after being sedated and restrained by medics. His mom wants answers
-
Brian Austin Green’s Fiancée Sharna Burgess Celebrates Megan Fox’s Pregnancy News
-
Amazon's Prime Day Deals on Amazon Devices: Fire Sticks for $24, Fire Tablets for $74 & More
-
Photographer Doug Mills on capturing bullet during Trump's rally assassination attempt
-
Man charged with murdering 2 roommates after body parts found in suitcases on iconic U.K. bridge