Rangers Play Small Ball, Phillies Play Smash Ball

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Rangers take Game 2, head home with momentum

The Texas Rangers beat the Houston Astros 5-4 in Game 2 of the ALCS and go home to Globe Life Field for Games 3, 4 and 5 with a two-games-to-none series lead.

It looked like the game would be a blowout after the Rangers tagged Astros starter Framber Valdez for 4 runs in the 1st inning on 6 singles and a twofer-error play by Valdez that allowed Robbie Grossman to reach base. Texas catcher Jonah Heim added a solo shot in the 3rd.

Then the Rangers hung on for dear life.

If you were following the game only on social media, and not on TV, radio, or MLB At Bat, you might’ve thought that Rangers starter Nathan Eovaldi was pitching a shutout and striking out the Astros with ease. It’s “postseason Eovaldi.” He has “ice in his veins.” He “just took the air out of Minute Maid Park.”

Those things are true. Eovaldi had all his pitches working. His curveball danced. His cutter came in on the hands of Astros hitters. His splitter disappeared at the bottom of the zone.

But Eovaldi didn’t pitch a shutout. He gave up 3 runs in 6 innings on 2 solo homers—one by Yordan Alvarez and one by Alex Bregman—and an RBI double by Michael Brantley.

That’s a testament to how good the Astros are at hitting.

A testament to how good the Astros bullpen was: five relievers shutdown the Rangers after Dusty Baker pulled Valdez in the 3rd.

A lot’s been made about Bruce Bochy’s decision to stick with Jordan Montgomery through 6 1/3 innings in Game 1 and Eovaldi through 6 innings in Game 2. Yes, Bruce Bochy trusts his starters. Yes, Bruce Bochy goes with his gut instincts and isn’t beholden to analytics.

But the hard truth for the Rangers is that Bruce Bochy knows that if the game is close, he’d rather use only Josh Sborz, Aroldis Chapman, and José Leclerc out of the pen. Actually, he’d rather use only Sborz and Leclerc, but he needs someone to bridge the gap. Bochy used Chapman as the bridge in Game 1 and Game 2 and it almost cost him in Game 2 when Chapman gave up a solo homer to Yordan Alvarez—his second dinger of the game and his sixth of the postseason.

With the off days for travel, Bochy may be able to ride Sborz, Chapman, and Leclerc to the World Series, just like he did with Jeremy Affeldt, Sergio Romo, Javier Lopez, and Brian Wilson in 2010 with the Giants.

Game 3 will be played Wednesday night at 8:00 pm EDT/5:00 pm PDT at Globe Life Field. Cristian Javier will take the mound for the Astros. Max Scherzer will make the start for the Rangers.

Phillies celebrate Bryce Harper’s birthday by bashing 3 home runs, winning Game 1

The Phillies’ win over the Diamondbacks in Game 1 of the NLCS looked similar to the Rangers’ win earlier in the day. The Phillies jumped out to an early lead, the D’Backs chipped away at the deficit, and had the tying run at the plate several times in the final innings. The Phillies’ bullpen bent but did not break.

The difference was that the Phillies hit 3 solo home runs to build their early lead. Kyle Schwarber hit the first pitch the Phillies saw from D’Backs starter Zac Gallen over the right field fence and off the scoreboard. There’s a get-it-in first pitch strike and then there’s this pitch, from Gallen, which Schwarber obliterated to the tune of 117 mph off the bat.

That is not a good strategy against Schwarber, who now holds the MLB record for most leadoff home runs in the postseason.

Gallen didn’t learn his lesson quickly enough, apparently, because two batters later, he served up this pitch to Bryce Harper, on Harper’s 31st birthday.

Harper hit it 109 mph. After it cleared the fence in right center field, the ball ricocheted off a staircase in the outfield and bounced among jubilant Phillies fans while Harper trotted the bases.

The Bank was rocking.

Nick Castellanos hit a solo homer in the 2nd inning to make it 3-0 Phillies. Castellanos now has 5 dingers this postseason and trails on the Astros’ Yordan Alvarez, who has 6.

The Phillies added a run in the 3rd on a Trea Turner double followed by a Harper single and made the score 5-0 in the 5th when Harper scored from 2nd on a J.T. Realmuto single to left field.

The Bank was rocking.

Meanwhile, Zack Wheeler was doing postseason Zack Wheeler things. After Corbin Carroll reached base on a bloop single to lead off the game, Wheeler retired 15 consecutive batters—8 by strikeout. He kept the D’Backs off balance with a beautiful fastball-sinker-curveball combination. Wheeler’s fastball regularly topped 96 mph. He was—literally—unhittable.

The D’Backs got to Wheeler in the 6th with a ground ball single by Evan Longoria and a home run by Geraldo Perdomo. But Wheeler finished the inning without any further damage.

Then things got interesting.

Phillies reliever Seranthony Dominguez—who had 10 meltdown innings in the regular season—melted down in the 7th. He walked Christian Walker to lead off the inning and then threw a double-play grounder into center field to put runners at 2nd and 3rd with no outs. A sacrifice fly by Alek Thomas brought the D’Backs one run closer. Jose Alvarado took over for Dominguez and ended the threat. 5-3 Phillies.

In the 9th, closer Craig Kimbrel walked Gabby Moreno with one out. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. came to the plate as the tying run. Gurriel worked a 3-2 count. Then he hit Kimbrel’s 95 mph fastball into a 5-4-3 double play.

The Bank was rocking.

The Phillies are heavy favorites in this series but the D’Backs are not going to roll over. Gallen disappointed in his first postseason start, but he limited the damage to 5 runs and gave his teammates a chance to comeback. And once again, Arizona’s bullpen was tough as nails. Three relievers shut the Phillies down in the later innings.

That’s the formula the D’Backs used to beat the Brewers in the Wild Card series. Don’t be surprised to see the Snakes steal a game or two from the Phillies in the same fashion.

Game 2 is tonight at 8:00 pm EDT/5 pm PDT. Merrill Kelly will start for the D’Backs. Aaron Nola will be on the mound for the Phillies.

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