*Photo from the Dallas Morning News*
Texas leads series 2-1
One game and they're right back in this thing. Yordan Alvarez drove in two runs, Jose Altuve homered, and the Houston Astros defeated the Texas Rangers with an 8-5 victory on Wednesday night in Arlington.
After losing the first two games of the series, the Astros hit the road and got into the win column, handing the previously 7-0 Rangers their first loss of the postseason in the process. Alvarez and Martin Maldonado each had two RBI games for Houston.
Houston closer Ryan Pressly said of winning game 3 that "I don't think we ever really necessarily got off track. It was more getting in the groove of things. This team has been in the postseason so many years. We know how to bounce back, and hopefully we keep the momentum going."
In the second inning, Alvarez scored on a wild pitch to give the Astros a 1-0 lead. Maldonado then singled into left field, scoring Mauricio Dubon and Kyle Tucker, tripling the Astros lead to 3-0. In the 3rd inning, Altuve hit a solo home run to make it 4-0. In the 4th, Dubon hit an RBI single to make it 5-0 as Jose Abreu scored.
Josh Jung got the Rangers on the board in the 5th inning, hitting a two run home run to make it a 5-2 game. Alvarez hit a two run single in the 7th, scoring Altuve and Maldonado to make it 7-2. Jung homered again in the bottom of the 7th to cut the deficit to 7-4. Both teams traded RBI singles in the 8th inning to make it an 8-5 final score.
Maldonado said after the game that "I feel like we lost two games and they could have gone either way. We felt like the second game, we got good at-bats and didn’t get the big hit. Other than that, you’re just trying to put runs on the board as a team, and we know how well we play at this stadium."
Cristian Javier got the start for the Astros, allowing two runs on 3 hits and a walk in 5 2/3 innings. Hector Neris allowed two runs in 1 1/3 innings before Bryan Abreu allowed a run in the 8th. Pressly got his 3rd save of the postseason with a shutout 9th inning.
Max Scherzer returned from injury to start for the Rangers, allowing 5 runs in 4 innings. Cody Bradford pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings before Chris Stratton allowed two runs in an inning. Will Smith worked 1/3 of an inning, Jon Gray allowed a run in one inning, and Martin Perez pitched 1 1/3 innings.
Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said of the loss that "Jung did a great job of getting us back in the game a couple of times. We weren't doing much with Javier. We were fighting to get back in it, and just got nicked a couple of times there with the bullpen and kept it a little bit out of reach. But I loved the way they battled tonight."
Up next, game 4 of the series is on Thursday night. The Astros look to tie the series and force a game 6 with Jose Urquidy starting. Andrew Heaney gets the start for the Rangers as they try to take a commanding 3-1 series lead.
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