ARLINGTON, Texas — No one ever said it would be easy to take down the reigning champion Astros, but where the Texas Rangers first negated Houston’s home field advantage by taking the first two games of the series at Minute Maid Park, Dusty Baker’s team came into the Rangers’ house and returned the favor.
By winning Games 3 & 4, the Astros have swung home field advantage right back to their side, as the Rangers will now need to win at least one more in Houston in order to move on to the World Series. Of course, they’ll have to win two in Houston if they can’t grab Game 5 at home.
Texas will have their two best pitchers of the postseason going in the next two games, as they try to recover from letting Houston back into the series. The Rangers’ bats will be going up against the Astros’ top starters again as well, which makes the expected results of these matchups far less certain.
Is the roof open or closed?
Before we dive into the matchup, let's get an update on the Globe Life Field roof: It'll be closed for Friday's game, according to the Rangers.
Yesterday's open roof caused a bit of apparent drama, when Astros manager Dusty Baker questioned the decision. In the end, it didn't matter much for the Astros, who cruised to a win.
The temperatures for the 4 p.m. start will be a bit warmer Friday than on Thursday evening, so it's no surprise the roof is closed. Temperatures could hit 90 degrees Friday afternoon. The Rangers don't typically open the roof if it's above 80, though Major League Baseball is the final decision maker in the playoffs.
Where we stand
Clutch Corey – Corey Seager has had a solid postseason, going 8-for-24 with three RBI, but only one home run coming into Game 4. That changed in the 3rd inning on Thursday night, as Seager, with the Rangers down 3-2, took aim at a first-pitch fastball and deposited it into the Astros’ bullpen in left-center field for a solo homer.
It was a sorely needed shot in the arm at the time, getting Texas right back into it. Even though the lead was given back the next half inning, Seager coming through in the clutch was a welcome sight.
Redemption for Stratton – Chris Stratton, coming over from the St. Louis Cardinals at the trade deadline, had a stellar first month with the organization as he posted a 2.00 ERA in 11 appearances. Down the stretch, however, Stratton’s performance was far worse, as he put up a 5.73 in 11 appearances in September.
After giving up two runs in his first postseason appearance, the 33-year-old righty, who will be a free agent when the season concludes, had a bounce-back outing in Game 4, pitching 1 ⅔ innings in relief and giving up no hits or runs. Stratton ended up being the only Rangers’ reliever to post a clean inning in this game.
No love from the glove – In the bottom of the 5th inning, with two on and nobody out and the Rangers looking to spark a rally to begin a comeback bid, Seager ripped a line drive down the right field line – or it would have been down the right field line had first baseman Jose Abreu’s glove not been in the way.
The former league MVP nabbed the ball and then stumbled toward Marcus Semien, who was scrambling back to the bag. Abreu’s outstretched arm tapped a finger of the batting glove that was sticking out of Semien’s pocket. According to the Umpire’s Handbook, a tag that is placed on a piece of equipment intentionally placed somewhere by a runner/hitter counts as a tag on the person – since Semien placed the batting gloves in his pocket, it counted as a tag and the line drive turned into a double play which effectively killed the rally.
Game 5 match-up
Houston Astros (2-2) @ Texas Rangers (2-2), 4:07 pm CT – Globe Life Field, Arlington, Texas – Broadcast on FS1
Starting Pitchers – Justin Verlander (0-1, 2.70 ERA) vs. Jordan Montgomery (1-0, 0.00 ERA)
The Game 5 duel is a rematch of the first game of this series. Both pitchers pitched extremely well, but it was the two runs scratched out by the Texas offense, and the masterful performance by Montgomery, that led Texas to take the opener.
Verlander was on his game last time out, striking out five Rangers over his 6 ⅓ innings and allowing just the two runs. The Texas offense, though, exhibited impressive selectivity of the Astros’ ace’s pitches, swinging and missing just once through five innings. The Rangers’ strategy all postseason has been to practice “selective aggression” in their plate approaches, and it served them well as Verlander worked through the first few innings to establish his fastball command. The two runs that Texas scored against Verlander were via a Jonah Heim RBI single in the 2nd inning and a 5th inning home run from Leody Taveras on a hanging slider.
The story of Game 1, however, was Montgomery. The lefty, pitching against a lineup that has mashed left-handers, expertly navigated through the Houston order. Besides locating his fastball well, Montgomery’s off-speed pitches were his greatest weapon. Never was this more apparent than in his approach against designated hitter Yordan Alvarez.
Montgomery threw his curveball, nicknamed the “Death Ball” last winter, to Alvarez to punch him out three times in the game. None of the pitches Montgomery threw to Alvarez were near the middle of the plate, and perhaps the anticipation of hitting a lefty prompted Alvarez to swing at those pitches out of the zone; regardless, they did the trick, and Montgomery’s containment of Alvarez was the difference maker in Game 1.
It’s four games later though, and adjustments on both sides will have been made. The strategies employed by both teams nearly a week ago will have likely changed come Friday and, of course, the setting has switched to Arlington where the Rangers continue to have a devil of a time beating Houston.
Avoid or Continue
Avoid: Walking the 9-hole hitter – Immediately after Seager had tied the ballgame at 3-3 in the bottom of the 3rd, Dane Dunning issued a 3-2 walk to 9-hole hitter Martin Maldonado in the next half inning. On top of it being a leadoff walk to halt any momentum that the Seager homer had provided, it was also a walk to a batter hitting .191 on the year as one of the worst regular hitters in the postseason.
Attacking the strike zone against a poor hitter tends to yield good results. Failing to do so against the bottom of Houston’s lineup can only lead to disaster as the Rangers found out on Thursday.
Continue: Chipping Away – Despite a 3-0 hole to start the game, the Rangers were able to chip away run after run to tie the game back up two innings later. They were able to do the same in Game 3, erasing the 5-run deficit that Max Scherzer had dug. If not for the three runs the bullpen coughed up as well, the game outcome may have been a bit different.
Even after the Astros took a four-run lead in the 4th of Game 4, the Rangers continued to hit the ball hard and give themselves opportunities. They must continue to seek those chances in the coming games, as a comeback victory seems to be on the table should they go down early.
Avoid: Alvarez, again – Even though Montgomery was the first pitcher ever to strike Alvarez out three times in a game in Game 1, those results aren’t guaranteed in this rematch for Game 5. None of the other pitchers on the Rangers’ staff were able to contain the Houston DH over the previous three games, as Alvarez went 6-for-11 with two homers and seven RBIs.
No doubt, Alvarez will be on the lookout for Montgomery’s “Death Ball,” so perhaps pitching around Alvarez entirely is the best practice.
Overall, the ALCS is now a best-of-3 series. The eventual American League combatant at the World Series will be decided at Minute Maid Park in Houston in either Game 6 or Game 7. First though, Texas gets one more crack in their own ballpark to once again grab the upper hand.
Do you think the Rangers will reclaim their grip on the series in Game 5? Share your predictions with Matt on Twitter @FisherWritesMLB.
