*Photo from West Hawaii Today*
Once again, the AL West goes through Southern Texas. Jose Altuve homered, Alex Bregman drove in a pair of runs, and the Houston Astros defeated the Tampa Bay Rays with a 4-0 shutout victory on Monday night in Tampa Bay.
The win for the Astros marked their second win in a row, and their 8th in 10 games. With it, they also clinched their 5th AL West Title in the past 6 years, the outlier being the 2020 season, when the Oakland Athletics won the Division. It's also their 12th Division title in team history.
However, this is the first of likely a few more celebrations. The team looks poised to make yet another world series run, after losing in 6 games to the Atlanta Braves. Their magic number to claim the best record in the AL, and home field advantage throughout the playoffs, is at 7 entering play on Tuesday.
Astros manager Dusty Baker said that "We didn’t know what we had in Spring Training. We expected to win it, but we didn’t know we were going to win it by this much. But they just grinded, grinded and grinded. That’s the key. They were consistent every month, and these guys love each other. That’s what I like."
The Astros started the scoring right out of the gates. Altuve hit a leadoff solo home run in the first inning, putting the Astros ahead 1-0 early. They did not score again until the 6th inning, when Altuve scored on an RBI single from Yordan Alvarez, doubling the lead to 2-0. Bregman then drove in two runs with a double to left field, making the Astros lead a 4-0 margin..
Bregman said of winning the Division that "I think this ballclub expects to be good on a daily basis. We take a lot of pride in going out there every single day and playing hard, and these guys prepare. They show up and compete, and they hold themselves to a high standard. That's very important in championship teams."
Drawing the start for the Astros was Luis Garcia, who helped secure the Division title. Garcia allowed just two hits and 4 walks, pitching 5 shutout innings for the win. Hunter Brown pitched 3 shutout innings in relief, and Hector Neris worked the 9th to seal the win.
It was Drew Rasmussen who started for the Rays, getting the loss. Rasmussen allowed 4 runs on 6 hits over 6 innings pitched. JT Chargois came on and worked a scoreless 7th inning, and Garrett Cleavinger pitched two innings.
Rays starter Shane McClanahan said that "You're going to see these teams in the playoffs, and it's going to be a lot of fun, truthfully. The tougher the competition we have, I think, the better we play. It's just the way this group of guys are built. We love the big moment, we love the competition, and I think it's going to be a lot of fun."
Up next, the Astros and Rays continue their series on Tuesday night. McClanahan gets the start for the Rays, while Cristian Javier starts for the Astros.
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