Home field for ALDS nearly secure
A hit shy of 200, Altuve day-to-day after pitch bruises his left forearm
ARLINGTON — The odds the Astros will make up three games on the hottest team in baseball in six days are extremely slim.
But if nothing else, their 11-2 victory against the Texas Rangers on Monday night at Globe Life Park brought them one step closer to ensuring themselves home field for their likely American League Division Series against the Boston Red Sox.
Any combination of two Astros wins or Red Sox losses will officially clinch at least the AL’s No. 2 seed for the Astros (9660). The AL West champs will come into Tuesday two games worse than the AL-leading Cleveland Indians (98-58), who also own the tiebreaker between the teams by virtue of winning the season series.
The Red Sox (91-65) have a magic number of three to clinch the AL East over the New York Yankees (8769). If that happens and the Astros clinch the No. 2 seed before Thursday, the teams could play a per-
haps entirely meaningless four-game series of baseball this weekend at Fenway Park before opening the ALDS at Minute Maid Park on Oct. 5.
“We want to win as many games as we can,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. “We’re still chasing the No. 1 seed. We’re going to play Boston this weekend, which is a playoff team. Exposing guys to different matchups and things like that’s a little tricky.
“But you can overthink that, too. You really just need to play the games and compete and let whatever happens happen and not get too caught up in that stuff. We’ll address how we’re going to attack the Boston series once we get a little bit more info as we get closer to it.”
Preserving their health through these next six games will be a top priority for the Astros. In Monday’s seventh inning, star second baseman and AL MVP candidate Jose Altuve exited with a bruised left forearm after getting hit by a pitch. X-rays were negative. The team described his status as day to day.
Monday’s rout kept alive the possibility the Astros can match the 1998 team’s franchise-record 102 wins, but they would have to win out to do so. A 4-2 finish would give the club only its second season of at least 100 wins.
The result also clinched for the Astros their first Silver Boot since 2014. They are 10-7 this season against the Rangers, whose next loss or Minnesota Twins win will formally eliminate them from AL wild-card contention.
“It feels pretty good,” Marwin Gonzalez said. “I think, overall, the season that we’re having is like unbelievable. We’re trying to get to 100 wins and get the best record, too. It’s good to beat (the Rangers), but we are taking them as any other team.”
The Astros won Monday behind an eight-run fourth inning. They sent 12 batters to the plate, seven with two outs. Gonzalez and Evan Gattis each had two hits in the inning. Altuve drew a bases-loaded walk. George Springer and Carlos Correa each reached base on Rangers errors.
Texas starter Andrew Cashner didn’t survive the inning. A whopping seven of the eight runs against him were not earned.
Astros starter Collin McHugh allowed only two runs but racked up a pitch count of 112 in just five innings. He allowed seven hits and three hits but stranded the bases loaded in the third and fifth. His pitch count was tied for the second largest of the season by an Astros pitcher. Only Dallas Keuchel threw more, in his complete game against the Cleveland Indians on April 25.
McHugh was involved in a bit of drama in the second inning, when Lone Star Series lightning rod Carlos Gomez and the pitcher exchanged words, prompting both benches and bullpens to empty. Gomez had been hit by a pitch from McHugh just last month during the team’s neutral site series in St. Petersburg, Fla.
On Monday, Gomez triggered the exchange by staring down McHugh after each of the first two pitches of the at-bat and then taking a few steps out toward the mound. The first pitch was a high-andinside fastball, the second a heater on the outer half of the plate Gomez fouled off.
Once the players and coaches met by the mound, no punches were thrown and they soon made their ways back to their respective dugouts and bullpens. Both benches were warned by crew chief Dana DeMuth, and McHugh responded by striking Gomez out looking on a 1-and-2 fastball down in the zone.
“The first pitch was over the plate, up, and I don’t know if he didn’t like it or not, but the second pitch he took a big swing and fouled it off and took about five steps out toward the mound looking me straight in the eye,” McHugh said of Gomez.
“I just asked him if we had a problem. Which was a rhetorical question because clearly he’s got a problem with me. I don’t exactly know what it is, but whatever the case, he came out and I asked him what the issue was. He said, ‘Yeah, I’ve got a problem with you’ and that was it. Everybody was out there by that point in time.
“But the game goes on. I don’t want to spend any more mental effort thinking about Carlos Gomez. So, it is what it is.”
The Astros out-hit the Rangers 12-8 in the game. Gonzalez had four of the Astros’ hits, including his 23rd home run of the season. Altuve had a firstinning single, bringing his season hit total to 199.