HOUSTON (AP) — One more Texas-sized matchup to finally settle this Lone Star State showdown.
Nathan Eovaldi remained perfect this postseason, and Mitch Garver and Jonah Heim homered early before a ninth-inning grand slam by Adolis García helped the Texas Rangers avoid elimination with a 9-2 win over the Houston Astros in Game 6 of the AL Championship Series on Sunday night.
Road teams are unbeaten in this series going into the decisive Game 7 on Monday night in Houston. Cristian Javier pitches for the Astros against three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer. Javier beat Scherzer in Game 3 at Texas.
“I’m just proud of how these guys keep bouncing back,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said. “They’re amazing. They really are. They just don’t let adversity get to them.”
Texas and Houston had identical regular-season records (90-72), with the AL West title going to the Astros on a head-to-head tiebreaker. Now the heated rivals are tied once again, and this time the stakes are much higher — with a World Series trip on the line.
Eovaldi, who also won Game 2, yielded five hits and two runs in 6 1/3 innings to improve to 4-0 with a 2.42 ERA in the playoffs this year. The wild-card Rangers, one of six major league teams without a World Series title, are trying to return to the Fall Classic for the first time since back-to-back trips in 2010-11.
“Of course, Nate set the tone out there. How many times has he done that?” Bochy said. “And we just had great at-bats throughout the lineup.”
The defending World Series champion Astros were again felled by a subpar start from Framber Valdez and lackluster play at home. Valdez was charged with five hits and three runs while striking out six in five innings to fall to 0-3 with a 9.00 ERA this postseason.
The Rangers led by two before breaking open the game with a five-run ninth, punctuated by the slam from García — who struck out his previous four times up. The slugger was booed throughout the game after being at the center of a bench-clearing scuffle in Game 5 after being hit by a pitch from Bryan Abreu.
When García knocked a pitch from Ryne Stanek into the Crawford Boxes in left field with one out, many of those fans began streaming for the exits after yet another poor showing at home by Houston.
The Astros, who are 5-0 on the road this postseason, won three in a row in Arlington wearing their orange jerseys to move within a win of reaching their third consecutive World Series. But those orange tops didn’t help them carry their road magic home as they fell to 1-4 in Houston this postseason after posting a 39-42 mark at Minute Maid Park in the regular season.
“That doesn’t matter. It’s in the past,” left fielder Michael Brantley said. “We need to turn the page and be ready for tomorrow.”
No team with a losing record at home has ever reached the World Series.
This series joins the 2019 World Series, which Houston lost to Washington in seven games, as the only best-of-seven series in postseason history in which the road team won the first six games.
“Seems a little odd nobody is winning at home,” Garver said. “And I would like for it to stay that way.”
Bochy was at a loss when asked to explain why home has been anything but sweet during this series.
“Wow, I wish I could answer that one,” he said. “That’s the million-dollar question.”
Houston led by one after a first-inning RBI single by Yordan Alvarez. Garver tied it on his solo shot to start the second.