Houston Astros Defeated Scherzer To Win ALCS Game 3
On Wednesday night, the Houston Astros defeated the Texas Rangers 8-5 to get within 2-1 of the AL Championship Series thanks to a home run by Jose Altuve and a strong playoff performance by Cristian Javier, who pitched into the sixth inning again.
After a 7-0 start, Texas suffered its first playoff defeat. In his first start in over a month following his recovery from an injured shoulder muscle, three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer was done after four innings.
The 20 1/3 innings of postseason shutout innings that Javier pitched for the reigning champion Astros set a team record. When rookie Josh Jung hit the first of his two two-run home runs, his streak broke in the fifth.
“El Reptil,” a 26-year-old Dominican right-hander, earned his second playoff victory by holding the Rangers to two runs and three hits over five and a third innings. The third reliever, Ryan Pressly, finished the ninth inning with his third postseason save by inducing Jung’s double-play grounder that stopped the game.
The Houston Astros’ two-run singles came from Yordan Alvarez and Martin Maldonado, the catcher sporting reptile-skin spikes in honor of his pitcher’s nickname.
The Houston Astros are back in the game.
The wild-card Rangers played only their second home game of the postseason when Jung launched his second two-run homer in the seventh inning for them. For the first time since 2011, they advanced to the ALCS and their first playoff series against their local AL West rival after sweeping Tampa Bay and Baltimore, the AL’s top two teams in the regular season.
Game 4 is scheduled to take place on Thursday night, and Game 5 will be on Friday. The Houston Astros have won 17 of their previous 20 road games, including two victories against Minnesota in the AL Division Series and a series at Globe Life Field in early September, where they swept Texas with a 39-10 score while hitting 16 home runs in the process.
In the National League Championship Series, which will continue on Thursday in Arizona, Philadelphia, which was swept in three games at Globe Life Field to start this season, is leading 2-0.
Up until a three-run second that gave Houston a comfortable lead, the Rangers had trailed after only one of the first 64 innings of this series.
At the beginning of the frame, Alvarez was struck by a cutter traveling at 89 mph on his left foot. Mauricio Dubón singled after Kyle Tucker walked to put runners on the corners. When Scherzer’s wild pitch glanced off Jonah Heim’s glove, Alvarez was able to score, and Maldonado, the ninth batter, then delivered his big single.
Altuve homered to start the third inning, one of his five long balls throughout that September series. In the fourth, José Abreu doubled on the opening pitch and scored on a single by Dubón for a 5-0 advantage.
Following those straight Ks, Scherzer approached the dugout and halted on the stairs. There was a short exchange with manager Bruce Bochy, who at one point gestured towards the Rangers bullpen in right-center.
Five runs and five hits were allowed by the 39-year-old Scherzer, who was acquired from the Mets before the trade deadline. He lost to San Diego 7-1 in the NL Wild Card Series in New York’s lone playoff appearance, giving up seven runs and seven hits—four of them home runs—in 4 2/3 innings of work.
Six weeks earlier, when the Houston Astros defeated the Nationals 12-3 to end that September series, Scherzer had forearm discomfort and gave up seven runs over three innings, all of which came on three home runs. Before being placed on the disabled list due to shoulder pain, he pitched 5 1/3 shutout innings six days later, on Sept. 12, versus Toronto.
After rookie Evan Carter’s strong two-out liner to right in the sixth inning, which Tucker misplayed into a double by the Gold Glove finalist, Javier was replaced with Hector Neris, and a superb defensive play swiftly brought the inning to a close.
A spectacular catch in the gap and the removal of an extra-base hit from Adolis Garcia were made by left-fielder Michael Brantley, a 36-year-old five-time All-Star who made his comeback in August after missing 14 months with a shoulder injury.
Even yet, that didn’t constitute the evening’s finest defensive move.
On a 416-foot shot to straightaway center to start the sixth inning, Alvarez denied what would have been his seventh home run this playoffs when Leody Taveras made a leaping grab with his arm stretched beyond the wall.
The longest scoreless streak by an Astros starter or reliever was extended by Javier to 20 1/3 innings, surpassing Joe Niekro’s previous record of 18 innings. After Christy Mathewson‘s 28 innings from 1905–11, it is the second-longest MLB scoreless streak for a pitcher in his first postseason start.
After outings for Detroit, Washington, the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the New York Mets, Scherzer became the second pitcher to start for five different clubs in the postseason. From 1989 until 2006, David Wells began for Cincinnati, Baltimore, the Yankees, Boston, and San Diego.
