HOUSTON – The Houston Astros’ reign atop the baseball world ended not with a whimper but a whomping, administered by a Texas Rangers team that ensured this Lone Star State American League Championship Series ended with a healthy dose of what the Rangers might consider hardball justice.
The Rangers advanced to their first World Series since 2011 by zapping the drama out of baseball’s crucible – Game 7 – with a fusillade of power, with managerial savvy, and a knack for the devastating and poetic counterpunch.
They captured the AL pennant Monday night at Minute Maid Park with an 11-4 thrashing of the defending World Series champions, a seven-game set that was both bizarre and fantastic, benches clearing and bombs bursting in the outfield seats, until the Rangers finally restored order behind an epic turn from ALCS MVP Adolis García.
Texas will host Game 1 of the World Series Friday night, with the winner of Tuesday’s NLCS Game 7 between Arizona and Philadelphia visiting Globe Life Field. It will be the Rangers’ first Fall Classic appearance since their 2011 battle against the St. Louis Cardinals concluded with utter heartbreak – ninth- and 10th-inning collapses in Game 6 followed by a Game 7 loss.
Monday brought their first Game 6 assignment since. Adolis García ensured it would end devoid of tension.
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García, at the center of this ALCS for reasons both dazzling and dastardly, set a Major League Baseball postseason record with 15 RBIs and earned series MVP honors. He leaped into the protagonist role of this ALCS script thanks to his Game 5 home run and celebration, followed by a hit-by-pitch from Astros reliever Bryan Abreu that he deemed intentional – and reacted as such, going jaw to jaw with Astros catcher Martín Maldonado and earning an ejection.
That devastating Game 5 loss put the Rangers down 3-2 with the series headed back to Houston. The Astros had two shots to close it out, though the fact road teams were unbeaten in this series certainly governed their hopes.
Turns out García was a far bigger problem.
He hit a Game 6 grand slam that followed four strikeouts and thunderous boos from Houston fans. But that shot was merely icing on the cake in that 9-2 victory.
Game 7 was simply a clowning.
García opened his night by drilling a ball off the Crawford Boxes in left field – just a single since he admired the shot so long and it didn’t quite reach the seats.
No matter: García promptly stole second to make up for his gaffe and scored the third run of a disastrous first inning for Astros starter Cristian Javier, who could not finish the frame.
Soon, García left no doubt.
Third inning: Leadoff home run to right field for a 4-1 lead, 743 feet of damage in two swings.
Fourth inning: Two-run single through a drawn-in infield. Rangers 8, Astros 2.
Eighth inning: Solo home run into the Crawford Boxes, this time making sure with a 107-mph, 340-foot blast.
The series total: Five home runs, 15 RBI, a good few minutes of deliberate home run trots and unofficial title as baddest man in the AL.
Of course, that title might have to go to manager Bruce Bochy.
The 68-year-old three-time World Series champ came back to the manager’s chair, both to guide the Rangers through the 162-game grind but ultimately, for games just like these. He was in an unenviable spot in this Game 7, with 39-year-old Max Scherzer – still recovering from a shoulder strain, bad in Game 3 – slated to start.
And Scherzer got rocked – giving up rockets measured at 102.1, 99.9 and 100.5 mph.
Yet Scherzer escaped with a 3-1 lead intact, mainly because he got 36-year-old Michael Brantley to ground into an inning-ending double play.
Advantage Bochy, again.
Astros manager Dusty Baker opted for a rare alignment this postseason, benching Mauricio Dubón and putting Chas McCormick in center and Brantley in left. The move immediately backfired, when Brantley dove and missed a soft fly that fell for an RBI single for Mitch Garver, keying the Rangers’ three-run first.
Bochy, meanwhile, rode Scherzer like an old horse, bucking and swaying but pulling the plug at just the right time – up 4-2 in the third, one batter after a Yordan Alvarez triple brought the tying run to third.
He plugged in Game 5 starter Jordan Montgomery, a lefty, on two days’ rest to face Brantley. Dubon stayed on the bench. Brantley lined softly to shortstop.
The Astros were never so close again.
Rookie Evan Carter’s two-run double and García’s two-run single plated four runs in the top of the fourth. In the sixth, two batters after Abreu drilled Mitch Garver in the midsection – he’d later leave the game and undergo X-rays – Nathaniel Lowe crushed a two-run homer off Abreu, whose denial of intent somehow, suddenly seemed flimsier.
It was all over but the celebrating, and that was left to Jose Leclerc, who gave up a crushing ninth-inning Game 5 home run to Jose Altuve, then rebounded to bail out the Rangers in the eighth inning of Game 6.
Monday, his ninth-inning work was largely symbolic, so he could be the guy in the bobbing mass of celebratory humanity. It was a fitting sight for a club that has always bounced back from whatever came their way.
Up next: The World Series.
Here’s how Game 7 unfolded:
Adolis Garcia hits another home run, Rangers lead 11-3
Adolis Garcia hit his second homer of the night – and is now 4-for-5 with 5 RBI – in the top of the eighth to restore the Rangers’ eight-run cushion. It was Garcia’s fifth homer of the ALCS.
Yordan Alvarez’s RBI since in the bottom of the seventh brought home the Astros’ first run since the third inning.
Rangers turning Game 7 into a rout: Nathaniel Lowe homers
HOUSTON – The Texas Rangers aren’t just piling on the Houston Astros in Game 7 of the ALCS – they’re practically posterizing them.
After reliever Bryan Abreu – subject of significant consternation this series – drilled DH Mitch Garver in the ribs with a 97 mph fastball in the top of the sixth inning, Nathaniel Lowe had his back. Lowe crushed an Abreu slider into the right field seats for a two-run homer, giving Texas a 10-2 lead as they seek 12 more outs to reach the World Series.
Abreu’s pitch struck Garver in almost the same area as the hit-by-pitch on Adolis García in Game 5 – which sparked a benches-clearing incident and an Abreu suspension, which was commuted to next year. García was simply fortunate enough to get his left arm in front of the missile.
Garver stayed doubled over at home plate a couple minutes, manager Bruce Bochy out to check on him. He eventually walked to first base, where he and a trainer again made sure he caught his breath.
Two batters later, Lowe destroyed an Abreu pitch, no doubt bringing significant satisfaction to the Rangers’ dugout.
They are primed for a most raucous celebration this evening.
Rangers open big 8-2 lead with four-run fourth
HOUSTON – Evan Carter and Adolis García are carving their names into Texas Rangers lore one playoff game at a time. In the fourth inning of ALCS Game 7, they may have teamed up to finish off the Houston Astros.
Carter hit a bases-loaded double and García followed with his third run-scoring hit of the night, a single through a drawn-in infield that scored two more runs and extended the Rangers’ lead to 8-2.
All the damage came off right-hander J.P. France, the third Astros reliever whose outing was just as disastrous as starter Cristian Javier’s.
Carter was unstoppable in the Rangers’ first two series against Tampa Bay and Baltimore, while García has homered in four consecutive ALCS games even as he’s drawn the ire of Astros fans. His 14 RBI are a record for a postseason series.
Meanwhile, the Rangers have used just one reliever – starter Jordan Montgomery – and have their full complement of relievers.
Eighteen outs to the World Series.
Alex Bregman homers, Max Scherzer pulled in third inning
HOUSTON — Max Scherzer has been knocked out of the game, the Houston Astros have drawn closer to the Texas Rangers, and a wild Game 7 of the American League Championship Series lurches on.
Rangers manager Bruce Bochy managed to milk nearly three innings out of the shaky 39-year-old, who gave up a one-out home run to Alex Bregman and a triple to Yordan Alvarez, bringing the Astros within 4-2 in the third inning.
Bochy then got a bit greedy, and got away with it. He left Scherzer in to face Jose Abreu and the right-hander got Abreu on a grounder to third with the infield drawn in. Finally, Game 5 starter Jordan Montgomery was summoned for lefty Michael Brantley, who lined to shortstop Corey Seager, ending the threat.
The Astros trotted out their fourth pitcher in the fourth inning, J.P. France following Hunter Brown, Phil Maton and starter Cristian Javier.
Adolis Garcia home run extends Rangers’ lead
HOUSTON – Adolis Garcia nudged the Texas Rangers a little closer to a World Series trip – while taking command of the ALCS MVP race.
The Texas Rangers right fielder smacked an opposite-field home run off Astros reliever Hunter Brown to give the Rangers a 4-1 lead in the top of the third inning Monday at Minute Maid Park. It was the fourth consecutive game García has homered – including a grand slam after four strikeouts in Sunday’s Game 6 and a three-run shot, capped by an emphatic bat spike, that put the Rangers ahead in Game 5 and began a series of significant events.
Meanwhile, Max Scherzer has steadied after a shaky first inning, striking out the final two batters of the second inning – but he’ll have to face the top of the Astros order again in the third.
Astros answer with a first-inning run vs. Max Scherzer
HOUSTON – Max Scherzer wasn’t any better than Cristian Javier in the first inning of ALCS Game 7. Just more fortunate.
The future Hall of Fame pitcher was rocked by the Houston Astros but only gave up one run, on Jose Abreu’s RBI single, in an inning he gave up batted balls with exit velocities of 102.1, 99.9 and 100.5 mph – as well as an intentional walk.
But the final ball in play – a mere 88 mph – off the bat of Michael Brantley produced a 4-6-3 double play and extracted Scherzer from a first-and-third, one out situation to escape with a 3-1 lead after one inning.
The Astros are already on their third pitcher of the night, after Phil Maton recorded the last two outs of the first inning in relief of starter Cristian Javier and Hunter Brown started the second inning.
Corey Seager’s home run starts Rangers’ three-run first
HOUSTON – They still have 27 outs to get, but the Texas Rangers opened up Game 7 of the American League Championship Series by punching the Houston Astros in the mouth – and knocking their best postseason starter out of the game after recording just one out and giving up three runs.
No. 2 hitter Corey Seager jumped on a Cristian Javier fastball and sent it 440 feet, well beyond the fence in right field, for a 1-0 Rangers lead on Javier’s fourth pitch of the game. It marked just the fourth run Javier has given up in his last five postseason starts spanning this year and 2022.
There would be more.
Evan Carter followed Seager with a walk, stole second and scored on Adolis García’s line drive off the tall wall in left field. Garcia, the most reviled man at Minute Maid Park for reasons, stood and watched the ball sail 345 feet before it did not go over the wall. He was held to a single – but promptly stole second.
Mitch Garver then dropped a bloop into left field that 36-year-old Michael Brantley dove but could not catch. Manager Dusty Baker opted for a less defensively-inclined Game 7 alignment of Brantley in left and Chas McCormick in center, benching Mauricio Dubón, and it backfired immediately.
A Jonah Heim single finished Javier after just six batters, and Phil Maton relieved – the first of what may be double-digit pitchers appearing for Houston tonight.
The first-inning outburst marked the third time in four games at Minute Maid Park that the Rangers have struck first. All six games in this series have been won by the road team. And that trend may yet hold up and send Texas to the World Series.
Astros, Rangers’ starting lineups, probable pitchers for ALCS Game 7
Texas Rangers
Starting pitcher: RHP Max Scherzer
- Marcus Semien (R) 2B
- Corey Seager (L) SS
- Evan Carter (L) LF
- Adolis Garcia (R) RF
- Mitch Garver (R) DH
- Jonah Heim (S) C
- Nathaniel Lowe (L) 1B
- Josh Jung (R) 3B
- Leody Taveras (S) CF
Houston Astros
Starting pitcher: RHP Cristian Javier
- Jose Altuve (R) 2B
- Alex Bregman (R) 3B
- Yordan Alvarez (L) DH
- Jose Abreu (R) 1B
- Michael Brantley (L) LF
- Kyle Tucker (L) RF
- Chas McCormick (R) CF
- Jeremy Pena (R) SS
- Martin Maldonado (R) C
Rangers flipped the script to force Game 7
HOUSTON — They were playing for their professional survival and for the fading notion of capturing a World Series championship, a concept suddenly contingent on winning a baseball game Sunday night.
Yet for Jose Leclerc and Adolis Garcia and the rest of the Texas Rangers, Game 6 of the American League Championship Series was first about redemption, and burying bitter memories, and tamping down any demons that lingered from a loss that pushed their season to the brink.
“To not think,” Leclerc said late Sunday night, “about what happened before.”
And so Leclerc put behind him the shame of blowing a save in the most critical game he’d ever pitched in just two days before, getting the most crucial outs of this Rangers season.
And Garcia processed the notion he was suddenly the most reviled man in Houston, drowned out the boos and struck the most vengeful and timely grand slam his teammates could have ever asked for.
And when it was over, when the Rangers held the line and staved off the defending World Series champion Houston Astros, a taut game turned into a 9-2 triumph in Game 6, they could look up and savor the most delicious concept imaginable coming into the evening.
Game 7.
– Gabe Lacques