Cole fires optimism for Houston claiming last game of series

HOUSTON» All those regular-season wins for Gerrit Cole and the Houston Astros have manager AJ Hinch feeling just fine entering a winner-take-all game with the Tampa Bay Rays on Thursday night.

“They’ve got to come into our house and beat us again,” Hinch said. “With Cole on the mound, I don’t know who could be more confident than us.”

Cole will start for the Astros in the decisive Game 5 of their AL division series. The right-hander hasn’t lost since May 22, winning a franchise-record 17 straight decisions, capped by a 15-strikeout gem in the Astros’ Game 2 victory. He’ll try to punch Houston a ticket to its third straight AL Championship Series, and he’ll do it at home because the team won a franchise-record 107 games to earn home-field advantage throughout the postseason.

“I love that we’re here,” Hinch said. “The way we got here is nerve-wracking just because you don’t want to get to a Game 5 (but) we fought all year for have a better record and to win our division to get this particular game at home.”

The Astros got splendid pitching performances from Justin Verlander and Cole to take a 2-0 lead in the series. Then the Rays jumped on trade-deadline acquisition Zack Greinke for six runs in 3M innings of a 10-3 win in Game 3 before Verlander came back on short rest and took the loss in Tampa Bay’s 4-1 victory which evened the series. Thursday’s winner will face the AL East-champion New York Yankees.

Houston went 60-21 at Minute Maid Park in the regular season, but the upstart Rays have shown fearlessness in downing the Athletics in the wild-card game before fending off elimination with their last two wins. In the playoffs for the first time since 2013 and the underdogs in this series against the star-studded Astros, the Rays have played bigger than the names on the backs of their jerseys.

“I do think the mentality that these guys come to the ballpark (with is), they might not be superstars, but they certainly believe they are,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said.

They used a parade of relievers Tuesday night but will return to a traditional starter in Game 5 with Tyler Glasnow.

Glasnow sat out from May 11Sept. 8 with a right forearm strain and threw 76 pitches in 4L innings in a Game 1 start. Cash said he expects Glasnow to be at full strength Thursday.