The Athletic has live coverage of Astros vs. Rangers in Game 3 of the ALCS.
The Houston Astros held on for a 3-2 victory in Game 4 at Target Field on Wednesday to win their American League Division Series over the Minnesota Twins. Here’s what you need to know:
- The Astros advance to their seventh consecutive AL Championship Series, where they’ll face the Texas Rangers in the first-ever playoff meeting between the two AL West sides.
- Houston closed out Minnesota on Wednesday behind homers from José Abreu and Michael Brantley. Astros starter José Urquidy went 5 2/3 innings, allowing three hits and two earned runs with six strikeouts.
- The Twins — who snapped an 18-game playoff losing streak earlier this postseason — lost Game 3 at home Tuesday after splitting Games 1 and 2 in Houston.
WE'RE HEADED TO OUR SEVENTH STRAIGHT ALCS. pic.twitter.com/MkU4sH4srE
— Houston Astros (@astros) October 12, 2023
Astros pitching got it done
Houston’s pitching staff stymied one of the sport’s streakiest offenses, seizing advantage of the Twins’ strikeout propensity while keeping their potent bats in check. No lineup in the sport struck out more this season than Minnesota’s. No American League offense hit more home runs, either. Astros pitchers punched out 52 Twins across the four-game series. Of the five home runs they surrendered, three were solo shots, the sort that Dusty Baker always says “won’t beat you.”
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Houston received terrific outings from its two most inconsistent starters: Cristian Javier on Tuesday and then Urquidy on Wednesday. The two men teamed to fire 10 2/3 innings of two-run ball, propelling the club to two consecutive road wins. Houston’s pitching surrendered 13 runs in the four games. Six of them came in Game 2 — the Astros’ only loss. — Chandler Rome, Houston Astros writer
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Álvarez shined brightly
Most Valuable Players aren’t named in the ALDS, but if they were, Yordan Álvarez would win it unanimously. Álvarez finished the four-game series 7-for-16 with four home runs and two doubles. His single during Wednesday’s game was his first non-extra base hit of the series.
Álvarez’s awe-inspiring performances are almost expected. Abreu’s, on the other hand, are a welcome sign. He finished 5-for-12 and homered in each of the two games at Target Field, including a two-run, opposite-field blast on Wednesday against Twins reliever Caleb Thielbar. Abreu authored an abysmal regular season, but if he can carry this form into the ALCS, Houston’s lineup is all the more lethal. — Rome
Twins’ offense fell flat in postseason
Minnesota’s lineup scored the second-most runs in the AL after the All-Star break, but for most of the six-game playoff run, the Twins’ offense reverted back to the first-half struggles that led to a frustrating lack of run support for a strong pitching staff. Joe Ryan and five relievers combined to allow just three runs in Game 4, and overall Twins pitchers allowed 3.5 runs per game in the postseason, but the offense scored more than four runs just once, in support of Pablo López in Game 2 versus the Astros.
Good pitching and inconsistent, strikeout-heavy hitting was the story at the beginning of this season and again at the end. Ultimately the Twins did a lot of things well against the Astros, but they couldn’t get enough hits in big spots to break games open, with the season-ending loss being a prime example of a season-long issue. — Aaron Gleeman, Minnesota Twins writer
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Required reading
- Rangers vs. Astros ALCS predictions, pitching matchups and what you need to know
- Krawczynski: Parsing out the blame for the Twins’ latest postseason face-plant
- Who needs lefty relievers? Not, apparently, the Astros, even against lefty-heavy Twins
(Photo: Jesse Johnson / USA Today)