*Photo from ESPN*
Houston wins series 2-0
The Minnesota Twins simply cannot catch a break. The bullpen starred, Carlos Correa hit a big homer, and the Houston Astros beat the Minnesota Twins 3-1 to sweep the Twins out of the playoffs. The loss gives the Twins 18 straight playoff losses, the most in North American Sports history. Both of these games for the Twins were at home as well.
The Astros started the scoring in the 4th inning, when Kyle Tucker hit an RBI single to center field, making it a 1-0 lead. In the 5th, Nelson Cruz hit an RBI double to left field, scoring Marwin Gonzalez to tie the game at one. It stayed tied until the 7th, when Correa launched a solo homer to left field, giving the Astros a 2-1 lead. In the 9th, Tucker hit an RBI single to extend the lead to 3-1, which held.
The Astros, now one of the most unlikable teams in MLB due to their cheating scandal in the offseason, despite them finishing with a sub .500 record in the regular season, showed they aren't done yet. Correa said that ''I know a lot of people are mad. I know a lot of people don't want to see us here, but what are they going to say now?" Tucker said that ''From the very beginning, we envisioned ourselves back in the playoffs and playing real well, so we never counted ourselves out at any point.''
Rookie Cristian Javier got the win for the Astros, working 3 innings of scoreless relief work. Javier allowed just two walks, the only baserunners of his outing, and struck out two hitters. Jose Urquidy got the start for Houston, working 4 1/3 innings. Urquidy allowed one run on one hit and two walks, striking out 3 hitters. Brooks Raley and Ryan Pressly also pitched for the Astros.
Cody Stashak got the loss for the Twins, giving up the go ahead homer to Correa in the 7th inning. Correa's homer was the only hit allowed by Stashak in his appearance. Jose Berrios got the start for the Twins, working 5 good innings. Berrios allowed one run on two hits and two walks, striking out 4 hitters. Trevor May, Taylor Rogers, and Tyler Duffey also pitched for Minnesota.
Twins outfielder Max Kepler lamented the loss and subsequent elimination, saying that ''We put a lot of balls in play, it seemed like, but they were up in the air and, yeah, it seemed like we played into their trap, at the end of the day, we didn't get the job done.'' Cruz, who drove in both runs for the Twins this series, said that ''I don't think anyone was ready to leave, to end this way."
The Astros move on to the ALDS, where they will play the winner of the White Sox-Athletics series. The Twins head home for another long winter.
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