Houston Astros' Starting Pitcher Does Something Never Done Before By Any Pitcher as Team Wins in ALCS
The Houston Astros toppled the Texas Rangers on Wednesday night 8-5 to earn their first win of the ALCS.
With the win, the Astros trail the series 2-1 but are still alive. They are now only three wins away from a return trip to the World Series.
While the offense banged out 12 hits in the win, the team was paced by starting pitcher Cristian Javier, who continues to excel in the postseason.
Per ESPN Stats & Info:
Cristian Javier has held opponents to a .071 BA through his first four career postseason starts.
That's the lowest opponent BA in any 4-start span in MLB postseason history.
Javier went 5.2 innings in the win, surrendering three hits and two earned runs. He walked one and struck out three. He didn't allow a hit until the bottom of the fifth inning.
He has a 1.69 ERA this postseason and is now 2-0. For his playoff career, he's 6-1 over 16 games with a 2.08 ERA.
He was vitally important to the Astros this season as well considering the team lost Justin Verlander in free agency (re-acquired at trade deadline), and saw Jose Urquidy go down for a lengthy stretch with injury. Furthermore. Luis Garcia underwent Tommy John surgery early on and Lance McCullers didn't pitch all year.
Game 4 of the series will be played on Thursday night from Arlington. First pitch is set for 8:03 p.m. ET and will be played after Game 3 of the NLCS, which happens just after 5:00 p.m. ET from Phoenix.
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