Rangers
force a Game 7 because the Astros can't resolve their home problems.
Texas City The Astros and Rangers competed for the American
League West championship over 162 games, each winning 90 games. Houston won the
division title on the final day of the season because it had a better
head-to-head record.
The Lone Star State rivals are knotted once more in the ALCS after six games, with one game left to
determine a spot in the World Series.In Game 6 of the ALCS on Sunday night at
Minute Maid Park, the Rangers defeated the Astros 9-2 thanks to home runs from
Mitch Garver, Jonah Heim, and Adolis Garca and a strong 6 1/3 innings from
starter Nathan Eovaldi. This tied the series at three games each.
The Astros must win Game 7 on Monday, the largest baseball game in the history of the state, to
break the home team's losing streak and make it to the World Series for the
fourth time in five years and third time in a row. In the winner-takes-all
contest, the Astros will start Cristian Javier on the mound.The 2019 World
Series saw the Astros lose four games to the Nationals at Minute Maid Park,
including Games 6 and 7. This was the only other seven-game series when the
home team lost each game. The Astros have dropped 21 of their previous 28 home
games.
Teams who have won
Game 6 in a best-of-seven playoff series have won the winner-take-all game 33
of 59 occasions (56 percent) in those series. In winner-take-all postseason
games, including 30-27 in best-of-seven series, teams playing in their home
ballparks are only 62-63 all-time.
Three runs were
scored in five innings on two swings of the bat by Astros starter Framber
Valdez, who had a 9.92 ERA in his previous four appearances. In the second,
Garver launched a solo home ball to right field, and in the fourth, Heim's
two-run shot narrowly cleared the right-field wall to give Texas a 3-1 lead.
Yordan Alvarez's
RBI single allowed Jose Altuve to score against Nathan Eovaldi in the first
inning. The Astros didn't get another hit until Alvarez singled to open the
sixth inning. He ultimately scored on Mauricio Dubón's sac fly to the right.
Off reliever Bryan Abreu in the eighth inning, the Rangers added a safety run.
The Astros loaded
the bases with one out in the bottom of the eighth inning, sending Minute Maid
Park into a frenzy. José Leclerc, a relief pitcher for the Rangers who allowed
Altuve to hit the go-ahead home run in the ninth inning of Game 5, got Dubón to
line out and struck out pinch-hitter Jon Singleton to quiet the fans.
The Rangers then
added a grand slam to end a nine-run inning. The Astros stranded nine runners
while going 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position.