Astros fight back into series
Javier deals more postseason mastery
ARLINGTON, Texas — Jose Altuve homered, Cristian Javier worked into the sixth inning of another solid postseason start and the Houston Astros beat the Texas Rangers 8-5 on Wednesday night, closing to 2-1 in the AL Championship Series.
Texas lost for the first time this postseason after a 7-0 start. Threetime Cy Young Award winner
Max Scherzer was gone after four innings in his first outing in more than a month after recovering from a strained shoulder muscle.
Javier set a franchise record for the defending champion Astros by extending his postseason scoreless streak to 20⅓ innings. That streak ended in the fifth when rookie Josh Jung hit the first of his pair of tworun homers.
Javier improved to 4-0 in his four career postseason starts, allowing just five hits.
“I always try to have the same mentality. These moments are extremely special for me,” he said through a translator. “When it comes to the game, just try to stay focused, try and attack the strike zone.”
A 26-year-old Dominican righthander known as “El Reptil,” Javier limited the Rangers to two runs and three hits over 5⅔ innings in his second win in these playoffs. He threw 51 of 85 pitches for strikes.
Ryan Pressly, the third reliever, worked the ninth for his third save of the playoffs, inducing
Jung’s game-ending, double-play grounder.
Martín Maldonado, the catcher wearing reptile-skin spikes in reference to his pitcher’s nickname, and Yordan Alvarez both had two-run singles for the Astros, who scored five runs with two outs.
Jung hit his second two-run homer in the seventh for the wild-card Rangers, who played only their second home game this postseason. They swept Tampa Bay and Baltimore — the AL’S top two teams in the regular season — to get to their first ALCS since 2011 and their first postseason series against their instate AL West rival.
Game 4 is Thursday night and Game 5 will be Friday afternoon.
The Astros are 40-45 at home this year, losing three of four in the playoffs. But they have won 17 of their last 20 road games, including both at Minnesota in the AL Division Series and three during a record-setting sweep at Globe Life Field in early September, when they homered 16 times and outscored Texas 39-10.
“It’s the strangest thing I’ve ever seen because usually you want to be .500 on the road and way over .500 at home,” Astros manager Dusty Baker said. “I asked the team in spring training to be the best road team. Maybe I should have asked them to be the best road and home team. They usually give me what I ask for.”