After losing the first two games of the series, the Astros were in Arlington tonight trying to get back into the series against the Rangers.
And clearly, the reigning champions understood the urgency of the situation. From the start of the game, they made sure to put their foot on the gas so they wouldn’t have to play catch-up baseball again.
Poor Max Scherzer, who was back from injury, was manhandled on the mound: the Astros scored three runs in the second inning.
And even after a big second inning, the Astros had no intention of letting up.
In the third, Jose Altuve scored a home run to score his team’s fourth point.
In the fourth, Scherzer’s setbacks continued. This time, it was Mauricio Dubon who joined the party with a hit.
Scherzer finished the game with five earned runs in four innings. This is not ideal.
On the other hand, Cristian Javier was flawless for the Astros… until the fifth inning. With a runner on, Josh Jung came up to bat, and he hit a home run.
With a single blow (of the stick), the locals’ lead was only three points.
And after Jung’s homer, we felt the Rangers come back to life. As Yordan Alvarez came up to bat, he hit a ball deep to center field that would be a home run.
Leody Taveras had other plans, however.
On the other hand, those who know Yordan Alvarez know that the big Astros slugger is difficult to neutralize during an entire game.
And an inning later, he did it again: With the bases loaded, he hit a single that drove in two runs.
It’s not a grand slam, but then again, it makes a left-handed pitcher pay.
Meanwhile, for Rangers, Josh Jung continued to give his club a chance to come back. After hitting a two-run homer in the fifth inning, he came to bat in the seventh inning with a runner on the trail.
One at-bat later, the Josh Jung Texas Rangers were back to three points ahead.
But clearly, the Astros wanted nothing to do with letting the Rangers come back to life. In the eighth round, the visitors put themselves back in a position to do damage.
And Jeremy Pena, the MVP of the last World Series, brought in Kyle Tucker for his team’s eighth point.
The Rangers scored a run in the bottom of the eighth (Adolis Garcia singled to allow Marcus Semien to cross the plate), but in the ninth, the Astros stopped the threat.
They therefore won by a score of 8-5.
Clearly, the Astros needed to win tonight, and the club’s offense woke up at the right time. Trailing 0-3 in the series would have been disastrous, but at 1-2, there is still more than enough hope for the reigning champions.
The two clubs will face each other again tomorrow at 8:03 p.m. We do not yet know the identity of the starting pitchers for the game.
