HOUSTON — The Texas Rangers survived on Sunday night. And they did it in grand fashion.
Mitch Garver and Jonah Heim homered to give the Rangers an early lead, but it was Adolis Garcia's grand slam in the ninth inning that shut the door on the Astros, powering Texas to a 9-2 win in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series at Minute Maid Park.
Texas held a 5-2 lead with the bases loaded when Garcia stepped to the plate. While still a comfortable lead, the Astros' late-game heroics in Game 5 on Friday surely had the Rangers searching for more runs.
They got four from Garcia, who hammered a 1-1 fastball that Ryne Stanek served across the heart of the plate. Garcia's homer went 375 feet into the left-field seats and put Texas up 9-2.
The Rangers could have found themselves eliminated Sunday night. Instead, they tied the series at 3-3 and forced a Game 7, which is scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday at Minute Maid.
Improbably, the road team has won every game in the series
Starting pitcher Nathan Eovaldi gave Texas' thin pitching staff the start it needed, going 6.1 innings and allowing just two runs on five hits, with four strikeouts. From there, relievers Josh Sborz, Jose Leclerc and Andrew Heaney carried the Rangers home, working out of several jams, including one with the bases loaded in the eighth.
The Rangers will turn to Max Scherzer to start Game 7. The Astros will trot Cristian Javier out to the mound.
First pitch will come at 7:03 p.m. on Monday, October 23.
Here's how Game 6 unfolded:
Eovaldi fell behind early, giving up a leadoff single to Jose Altuve and then a walk to Michael Brantley. Two batters later, Yordan Alvarez singled home Altuve to give the Astros a 1-0 lead.
Eovaldi wiggled out of the rest of the inning unscathed, and held the Astros scoreless the next five-plus innings.
Texas responded on the first pitch of the second inning with a solo home run from Mitch Garver to tie the game.
In the fourth, Jonah Heim gave the Rangers a lead they'd never relinquish with a towering two-run homer to right field -- a ball that floated just beyond the glove of a leaping Kyle Tucker at the wall. The ball went merely inches past Tucker's glove to put Texas ahead 3-1.
According to Statcast, Heim's homer would have been a homer in just one other park in Major League Baseball -- the short-porched Yankee Stadium.
Texas made Valdez work in the fifth, with Leodys Taveras and Marcus Semien reaching base. But Corey Seager lined out to Altuve at second, and Evan Carter, who entered the game as a pinch hitter for Robbie Grossman, struck out.
Eovaldi then opened the bottom of the fifth by hitting Martin Maldonado, the Astros' nine-hole hitter. But Houston couldn't capitalize: Altuve popped out, Michael Brantley struck out and Alex Bregman popped out.
Right-hander Phil Maton relieved Valdez to start the sixth for the Astros and took care of Texas in order. Adolis Garcia, who was met by a heavy chorus of boos all night long after his confrontation with Maldonado on Friday, narrowly missed a homer off Maton, flying a ball just foul in the right field corner. Garcia then struck out for a third time.
The Astros clawed back in the bottom of the sixth. Alvarez singled, and then so did Jose Abreu. A flyout to rightfield scored Alvarez from third, to cut Texas' lead to 3-2. Jeremy Pena then grounded out to shortstop to end the inning.
Texas pressured Houston again in the seventh but couldn't squeze out a run. Josh Jung walked and Semien singled with two outs. Seager stepped in with a chance to score at least one run with a hit. He worked the count to 2-1 and then drilled a liner to the first baseman Abreu, who knocked the ball down and tossed it to pitcher Hector Neris, who was covering first base. The inning ended with Texas clinging to a 3-2 lead.
Eovaldi returned for the bottom half of the inning, entering the frame at 82 pitches. He got Maldonado to line out to leftfield, but Altuve singled again, and Bochy decided to pull Eovaldi, ending his night after 6.1 innings.
Texas then turned to right-handed reliever Josh Sborz, who got a crucial inning-ending double play.
In the eighth, Texas added to its lead with a Garver double that scored the rookie Carter, who had reached on an infield single.
But Sborz ran into trouble in the bottom half of the inning. He struck out Alvarez but found himself with runners on first and second with one out and Tucker at the plate.
So Bochy gave Sborz the hook, calling on the Rangers' closer, Jose Leclerc. And Leclerc immediately found trouble, walking Tucker to load the bases. But a Mauricio Dubon lineout and a Jon Singleton strikeout got Leclerc out of the jam.
Houston reliever Ryne Stanek then allowed the Rangers to load the bases in the top of the ninth, and let up a score by hitting Corey Seager with a pitch. A grand slam moments later from Adolis Garcia then put the game out of reach.
Leclerc was going to come out for the bottom of the ninth for the save before Texas tacked on five runs in the top of the ninth. Instead, Bochy was able to tap the lefty Heaney, who retired the Astros in order to end the game.
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