Rangers 11, Astros 4; Rangers Win Series, 4–3
HOUSTON, Oct. 23 — Adolis Garcia went 4-for-5 with two singles and two homers, powering the Texas Rangers to an 11–4 blowout win over the intrastate rival Houston Astros in Game Seven of the 2023 ALCS Monday night. Corey Seager went 3-for-5, finishing a triple shy of the cycle as his Rangers won their third pennant and their first since winning back-to-back in 2010 and 2011.
“I’m so excited and happy for our group,” general manager Chris Young said during the clubhouse celebration. “These guys have earned it. They deserve it, and we want to go get four more (wins).”
It was not your everyday Game Seven. Neither starting pitcher — Max Scherzer for the Rangers nor Cristian Javier for the Astros — lasted beyond the third inning. The teams combined to use 13 pitchers, five for the Rangers and eight for the Astros. But in a topsy-turvy series where no home team won, it almost felt like it had to be this way.
Garcia — who went 10-for-28 in the series with seven runs scored, five home runs, and 15 RBI, the most RBI in any single postseason series — won series MVP. Teammate Travis Jankowski said of Garcia, “I think you gotta call him a freak now, right? He’s in that ‘freak’ category. He’s ALCS MVP for a reason. He goes out there and performs every day. I’m glad he’s on our side.”
Rangers Put Astros in Early Hole
The Rangers wasted little time getting to Javier, as shortstop Corey Seager launched the fourth pitch of the game 440 feet for a one-out, second-deck homer to right. Left fielder Evan Carter walked and stole second. Right fielder Adolis Garcia, the most hated man in Houston, blasted a deep drive to left through the chorus of hostile boos. He stood and watched, suddenly having to run hard when the ball hit a foot or two below the top of the high wall in left. Carter scored easily, but Garcia had to settle for a long single. He redeemed himself by stealing second as designated hitter Mitch Garver batted. Garver also singled to left, scoring Garcia and advancing to second on the throw home. Up came catcher Jonah Heim, whose single to left advanced Garver to third.
Exit stage left for Javier, who retired only one of the six batters he faced. Enter Phil Maton, who stopped the bleeding with strikeouts of first baseman Nathaniel Lowe and third baseman Josh Jung.
Second baseman and Game Five hero Jose Altuve led off the bottom of the first with a double off the wall in left. After third baseman Alex Bregman grounded to short, designated hitter Yordan Alvarez drew an intentional walk. Up came first baseman Jose Abreu, whose single down the left-field line scored Altuve and advanced Alvarez to third. That was all the Astros could get back, as left fielder Michael Brantley grounded into an inning-ending 4-6-3 double play.
Putting the Game Away Early
The score remained 3–1 Rangers until the third, when Garcia continued tormenting the Astros with a leadoff homer to right. In the bottom half, the Astros got that run back with a one-out blast to left-center by Bregman. An Alvarez triple and Abreu grounder to third later, Bochy took the ball from Scherzer and handed it to Jordan Montgomery, who retired Brantley on an inning-ending liner to short. At the end of three, the Rangers led, 4–2.
But that was as close as the Astros came to tying the score. J.P. France entered the game to pitch the top of the fourth and had a nightmarish outing. Jung led off with a single before center fielder Leody Taveras struck out. A Semien walk preceded a hot grounder to first. Abreu dove and knocked it down, preventing a run from scoring. Seager was safe at first, loading the bases for Carter. His double to right scored both Jung and Semien as Seager advanced to third. That brought up Garcia, whose single to left plated both runners as the booing continued. After a popup to short by Garver for the second out, Heim singled to right, advancing Garcia to third.
This brought France’s outing to a merciful end. In came Hector Neris, who walked Lowe to load the bases. Jung, batting for the second time in the inning, grounded to short, ending the frame with the Rangers now holding an 8–2 lead.
Finishing the Job
It became a 10–2 lead in the sixth off Bryan Abreu, the reliever who drilled Garcia in Game Five. The league announced before Game Seven that his two-game suspension was upheld but will be served in the first two games of the 2024 season. The first batter to face him was, naturally, Garcia, but the at-bat passed without incident. After a popup to first, Abreu hit designated hitter Mitch Garver in the ribs. Although he ran the bases, he was replaced in the eighth by Travis Jankowski. Bochy announced after the game that he got x-rays, but the results were not yet known. Two batters later, Lowe swatted a homer to right, scoring Garver.
A two-out double by Bregman and single by Alvarez combined to cut the Rangers’ lead to 10–3 in the bottom of the seventh. An eighth-inning home run to left-center by — who else — Garcia made the score 11–3. Altuve led off the bottom of the ninth with a homer to left, giving the Astros another consolation run and making the score 11–4. But Jose Leclerc, who gave up the homer, pitched around a walk to Bregman and one-out single by Jose Abreu. With two outs, Bregman on second, and Abreu on first, Leclerc got right fielder Kyle Tucker to hit a grounder to second. The throw arrived in plenty of time, giving the jubilant Rangers the pennant.
Heading to the World Series
Young had a “pretty good feeling” entering the game, and he enjoyed seeing the Rangers put it out of reach so quickly. “This is what they do, and it was fun to see,” he said. To Jankowski, opening up the early lead was “huge,” especially on the road. “You want to, take the fans, take the distraction out of it right away. Our lineup did a great job with our approach today. Our pitchers went off and did what they had to do, and the bullpen came in and held them down to minimal damage. We had a good game.”
Rangers manager Bruce Bochy, who has now won an LCS with three separate teams (1998 Padres; 2010, 2012, 2014 Giants), said of the Rangers in his postgame press conference, “This team has played with so much heart and determination as any club I’ve had. They all have. But it’s just amazing how they kept getting up. We went through ups and downs with the injuries (and) ran into a lot of streaks.”
Bochy said that more than anything, it’s about the players and “trying to find a way to get a ring for those guys.”
Several of the players have never even been to a World Series before. One is Jankowski, now in his ninth season. When asked how he felt, he said with a grin, “Ecstatic.” He added, “This is something you dream of as a kid, to be able to play in a World Series, to be on a World Series team. We’ve got a special group of guys here. This chemistry is huge. We love being around each other, and we’re on to the World Series.”
Looking Ahead
Jordan Montgomery, the first reliever used by the Rangers, earned the win. He pitched 2 1/3 innings, allowing no runs on three hits while striking out one. Javier took the loss after allowing three runs on four hits and a walk.
The Rangers await the winner of Game Seven in the National League Championship Series between the Arizona Diamondbacks and Philadelphia Phillies. No matter who wins the NL Pennant, the Rangers will have home field advantage in the World Series for the first time. Game One will be Friday. Although the league has not officially announced a game time yet, if previous patterns hold, first pitch will be around 8 pm Eastern/7 pm Central.
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