Texas Rangers outlast Houston Astros, take 2-0 ALCS lead

HOUSTON — We hear it so often around the playoffs that the words take on the form of a cliché: The team that wins the big moments wins in the playoffs.

In two games spread over two nights in the ALCS and seven games since the start of the playoffs, the Texas Rangers have won just about every big moment that has come their way in October.

Texas did it again Monday, winning a hard-fought 5-4 decision in Game 2 at Minute Maid Park, putting the Houston Astros in the kind of playoff hole they’ve rarely been in in their seven seasons of domination in October.

“I think that’s what makes baseball special,” said Rangers catcher Jonah Heim, who blasted a home run in Game 2 off a metal sign above the Crawford Boxes. “You never know who’s going to win the big time.”

While the Rangers have never faced this kind of pressure cooker as a group before, a number of their key players have been there and done it during their careers. One of those veteran players is Texas Game 2 starter Nathan Eovaldi, who won his seventh career playoff game.

Texas gave Eovaldi some early breathing room, jumping on Houston starter Framber Valdez for four runs in the first inning and going after the southpaw after 2⅔ innings. Texas took a 5-1 lead before Houston began to chip away.

Eovaldi faltered at times, giving up solo homers to Yordan Alvarez and Alex Bregman. The game seemed poised to turn Houston’s direction in the fifth, when Michael Brantley and Chas McCormick singled. Josh Jung, who otherwise had a remarkable performance in the field at third base, misplayed a slow player from Jeremy Pena.

Bases blocked, no one out, Rangers clinging to a 5-2 lead. These are the moments the Astros have won so often over the years during their streak of seven straight ALCS appearances that includes two World Series titles and four pennants.

“I feel like in those big moments you have to attack and make big throws,” Eovaldi said. “The stadium is crazy. There are all the fans and everything is going crazy. But at the same time you try to simplify everything based on your strengths and what you do best.”

In this case, pulling off an escape that would make Houdini jealous is what Eovaldi did best. Eovaldi won the moment, striking out Yanier Diaz and Jose Altuve, then bringing Bregman on a chopper to third. Threat extinguished.

“That was a turning point in the game,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said. “I found a way out. And a wonderful job at [Eovaldi]. He had some good things today. He pitched really well.”

Eovaldi left after blowing out six innings, allowing three runs and striking out nine. He has now struck out 23 batters in three starts in the 2023 postseason and for his postseason career he is 7-3 with a 2.87 ERA in 14 appearances, including eight starts.

The next big moment came in the bottom of the eighth against the Texas bullpen. Alvarez crushed his second homer of the game and his sixth of the postseason, driving left-hander Aroldis Chapman deep to cut the Rangers’ lead to one run.

As Houston fans waved an orange towel in a frenzy, anticipating the kind of climatic moment they expect from the Astros, Bochy decided to approach Jose Leclerc for a possible four-out save, one of the first instances . that month of October when the manager pushed one of his relievers.

“I haven’t really thought about [four outs]”, Leclerc said through a team interpreter. “I just had to get one out and then three more outs.”

Bochy, seeking his fourth World Series title as a manager, has guided as many teams through great moments as anyone. But it appeared he might have made the wrong call for once when Leclerc started wildly, walking Jose Abreu and Brantley. This was surely the pivotal moment for the inevitable Astros.

Instead, Leclerc had McCormick reach for a slider down in the zone. McCormick cut it to Jung. The rookie third baseman has excelled with the glove all season, but also missed time in September with a thumb injury that still requires him to wear protection on his glove hand.

“It hit my little thumb guard,” Jung said. “I just hit there and popped into the air. I didn’t panic or anything.”

That’s how it played out, with the ball deflecting off Jung’s glove and hanging in the air for what seemed like a long time. Jung simply scooped it up and stepped on the third base bag for the force out, ending the inning.

Leclerc was back for the ninth and after Pena flew to the wall in right, Jung dropped to his knees to smother a sharp grounder from Diaz and threw for the second out. That brought in perennial playoff hero Jose Altuve.

But it was also Rangers’ moment: Altuve grabbed an offering from Leclerc and flew harmlessly toward the center. Leclerc said: “I didn’t have my best equipment”, but his equipment was good enough for Rangers who bend but don’t break.

“We bounced balls a few times and made some really good plays defensively,” Heim said. “I think that makes us who we are.”

The Rangers are now entering historic territory. Texas has won seven straight to start the playoffs, including six on the road. Only the 2014 Royals had a longer streak (eight games) to start the playoffs. Only the 2005 White Sox had a longer road winning streak (eight) in the same postseason.

Perhaps more importantly, the Rangers pushed the Astros into a corner from which they rarely had to respond. Only once in 14 series since 2017 has Houston hosted the first two games of a game and lost both.

But the Rangers would do well to remember what the Astros did in their last meeting with an 0-2 hole with three games looming on the road. In the 2019 World Series, Houston lost two straight games to the Nationals at Minute Maid. They then went to Washington and won three straight.

Game 3 is scheduled for Wednesday at Globe Life Field. Texas will send ace Max Scherzer to the mound for his first action of the postseason. Houston will start right-hander Cristian Javier.

Anyone expecting the Astros to panic now will likely be disappointed. After seven years of excellence, the Rangers can look forward to an opponent who always hopes to win.

“You treat it like a baseball game,” said Bregman, whose homer gave him 17 career postseason long balls and 50 postseason RBIs for the Astros. “You’ve got to keep playing and have that next pitch mentality. That’s so true too. We’ve seen what this October is like, and sometimes things don’t make sense.”