*Photo from AP News*
Texas wins series 4-3
The best team in Texas and the AL has now been decided. Nathaniel Lowe homered, Adolis Garcia drove in 5 runs, and the Texas Rangers defeated the Houston Astros with a 11-4 victory on Monday night in Houston.
The Rangers secured their spot in the World Series with the win, knocking out the rival Astros to return to the World Series for the first time since 2011. The road team had the upper hand in this series, with the visitors winning all 7 games in the series.
Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said of the series win that "We’ve had our streaks. We’ve had our injuries. They keep getting up. To come in here and beat a great club like Houston, and congrats on their year, but it’s great to be wearing the horns in Texas."
Corey Seager gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead in the first inning with a mammoth solo home run to right center field. Garcia and Mitch Garver added RBI singles to make it a 3-0 game. Jose Abreu hit an RBI single in the bottom of the first to make it 3-1. Garcia and Alex Bregman traded 3rd inning solo home runs to make it 4-2 Rangers.
Evan Carter hit a two run double and Garcia added a two run single in the 4th inning to make the Rangers lead 8-2. Lowe added a two run home run in the 6th inning to make it a 10-2 score. Yordan Alvarez made it 10-3 with a 7th inning RBI single before Garcia hit a solo home run in the 8th to make it 11-3. Jose Altuve hit a solo home run in the 9th to make it a 11-4 final score.
Garcia said of winning the AL Pennant that "More than anything, it’s not even about beating the Astros or that particular opponent. It’s how proud I feel about the journey we’ve been on and how we’ve been able to improve to get to this point right now where we’re celebrating this victory."
Max Scherzer pitched 2 2/3 innings for the Rangers, allowing two runs. Jordan Montgomery pitched 2 1/3 innings before Josh Sborz allowed a run in 1 2/3 innings. Aroldis Chapman pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings, with Jose Leclerc closing out the series win in the 9th inning.
Cristian Javier allowed 3 runs and only got one out for the Astros. Hunter Brown allowed one run, JP France allowed 4, Bryan Abreu allowed two, and Jose Urquidy allowed one. Phil Maton, Hector Neris, and Ryne Stanek had scoreless appearances.
Houston outfielder Chas McCormick said of the series loss that "I mean, we just didn’t play well enough at home. That’s what finished our season. We didn’t win at home. Game 5, when we came back and won, I was like, ‘We have this. We’re going back to the World Series.’ It’s a different taste in the mouth just because I’ve been in the World Series my first two years in the big leagues, so it’s different."
The Rangers advance to the World Series, with game one on Friday night against the winner of the NLCS between the Arizona Diamondbacks and Philadelphia Phillies. After two straight World Series appearances, the Astros start their offseason a little earlier this time around.
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