Astros Break Out Against Scherzer, Rangers 'Pen

Photo by Corey Watson on Unsplash

Do y’all understand now why Rangers manager Bruce Bochy left starters Jordan Montgomery and Nathan Eovaldi in Games 1 and 2 for as long as possible? Even when they got in some trouble? Do y’all understand why Bochy started Max Scherzer in Game 3 even though Scherzer hasn’t pitched in an MLB game—much less under the stress of the postseason—since September 12?

The Rangers have 13 pitchers on their ALCS roster but only two dependable starters in Montgomery and Eovaldi and two dependable relievers in Josh Sborz and Jose Leclerc. Four pitchers who have the kind of stuff that can shut down the Astros offense.

Unless you have 2014 postseason Madison Bumgarner, it’s really, really hard to win 4 out of 7 games with 4 good pitchers. Bochy knows that and after the Astros’ win in Game 3, everyone else does too.

Scherzer had good velocity on his fastball, but couldn’t locate his cutter or his slider, which then made his fastball more predictable. He retired the side in the 1st, but gave up 3 runs in the 2nd on a wild pitch and a bases loaded single by Astros catcher Martin Maldonado just beyond the grasp of Rangers third baseman Josh Jung. Jose Altuve homered to lead off the 3rd and the Astros added another run in the 4th on a Jose Abreu double and a Mauricio Dubon single.

The score was 5-0 after 4 and Scherzer was done.

At that point, the Rangers didn’t have a hit off of Astros starter Cristian Javier. That didn’t come until the bottom of the 5th when Nathanial Lowe singled with 2 outs and Josh Jung hit a home run.

Okay, it’s 5-2 Astros after 5. Javier’s finally given up his first postseason runs since the 2022 ALDS. The Rangers can get back into this.

Can they, though? Who’s going to pitch innings 6, 7, 8 & 9? And can they keep the Astros off the board?

The answer was Cody Bradford for another 1/3 of an inning after pitching a scoreless 5th, Chris Stratton for 1 inning, Will Smith for 1/3 of an inning, Jon Gray for 1 inning, and Martin Perez for 1 1/3 innings.

Bradford served up a home run ball to Yordan Alvarez to lead off the 6th but Rangers center fielder Leody Taveras made a spectacular leaping grab at the wall for an out. Stratton gave up 2 runs by loading the bases and then watching Will Smith give up a single to Alvarez to score 2. Gray gave up 1 on a walk and 2 singles.

Bradford was the only reliever to pitch a 1-2-3 inning. Everyone else had baserunners everywhere, even if they didn’t allow a run.

The Rangers rallied on another Josh Jung 2-run home run and a run-scoring single by Adolis Garcia but it wasn’t enough. The good news is that Astros reliever Bryan Abreu gave up his first run since July.

Texas still has a 2-1 lead in the series and will play at home for Games 4 and 5, but it feels like the momentum has shifted. The Astros absolutely crush the ball at Globe Life Field. As noted by Baseball Reference, the Astros scored 63 runs at the ballpark in Arlington this season—an average of 9 runs per game.

Bruce Bochy will send Andrew Heaney to the mound to start Game 4. We’re likely to see a tandem with Dane Dunning out of the bullpen, just like we did in Game 1 of the ALDS against the Orioles. The Rangers won that game 3-2 and will need a performance like that in Game 4 against a more formidable Astros offense.

The Astros will counter with Jose Urquidy, who started and won the clinching Game 4 of the ALDS against the Twins.