Texas’s ARLINGTON The stars will take the mound once more in the American League Championship Series not too long from now.
But on Thursday night, it might have been won in a full-staff free-for-all where survival rather than dominance was the rule, rather than against future Hall of Famers like Justin Verlander or Max Scherzer or established playoff stars like Framber Valdez or Nathan Eovaldi.
And no team fared better in October than the Houston Astros.
The Astros won a mud-fight of a Game 4 by smashing the ball off Texas Ranger after Ranger and had just enough luck on the run prevention side to record a 10-3 victory and tie this ALCS 2-2 on a night when neither starter went past the third innings.
With the road side winning all three games in the series, the Astros and Rangers are tied. Houston has overcome a two-game deficit and will now play two of the last three games at home.
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This one they can praise their sluggers for.
With two outs in the first, Alex Bregman’s two-run triple and Yordan Alvarez’s single gave the Astros an early 3-0 lead. Rangers starter Andrew Heaney was relieved after just two players recorded hits.
Houston launched a decisive blitz in the fourth inning, loading the bases with no one out, following Texas’s kind retaliation in the third, when they tied the game and chased Jose Urquidy of Houston. Yordan Alvarez was replaced by lefty reliever Cody Bradford.
They fought through eight pitches, with Brdford fulfilling his role in theory by forcing Alvarez to fly out to center field’s warning track. In 17 out of 30 ballparks, the sacrifice fly would have resulted in a grand slam.
However, that only postponed the inevitable: Jose Abreu launched a low line shot into the second level, over the Houston bullpen, to give the team a 7-3 lead and a three-run home run.
