Tied Up! Houston Astros Slug Early, Often To Even ALCS Against Texas Rangers

The Houston Astros knocked Andrew Heaney out in the first inning and kept adding runs against the Texas Rangers to take Game 4 of the ALCS and even the series at 2-2.

ARLINGTON, Texas — It's a Texas two-step.

The Houston Astros evened the best-of-seven American League Championship Series against the Texas Rangers with a 10-3 thumping Thursday night at Globe Life Field.

A pivotal Game 5 is set for 4:07 p.m. Friday at Globe Life Field before the series shifts back to Houston for Game 6 and Game 7, if necessary.

After the Rangers took the first two games in Houston, the Astros returned the favor by taking the first two of three games in Arlington.

“We’re just focused right now,” Jose Altuve said. “We knew we were down by two, the pressure was on our side. So we tried as a team that had to get good pitches to hit, get on base, score some runs. I think that’s what we did the last two nights.”

Neither starting pitcher lasted long Thursday night. Rangers' starter Andrew Heaney surrendered four consecutive hits to open the game and left after walking Chas McCormick with two on and two outs and the Astros leading 3-0.

Altuve led off with a double, Mauricio Dubon singled, and Alex Bregman tripled them in to start the scoring. Yordan Alvarez singled in Bregman to make it 3-0 before the Rangers recorded an out.

Dane Dunning, who hadn't pitched since ALDS Game 2 in Baltimore, took over for Heaney and after allowing an infield single, struck out Martin Maldonado with the bases loaded to end the inning.

The Rangers chased Astros starter José Urquidy in the third after Corey Seager led off with a game-tying solo homer and Evan Carter and Adolis Garcia followed with singles. The Rangers scored twice in the second on Garcia's solo homer and Nathaniel Lowe's RBI double down the third-base line to pull within 3-2.

The Astros kept scoring, though, and the Rangers offense was shut down by Houston's bullpen.

The Astros scored four in the fourth, the big blow being Jose Abreu's three-run homer off Cody Bradford, who replaced Dunning to face Alvarez ahead of Abreu.

Chas McCormick's two-run homer in the seventh pushed Houston's lead to 9-3.

ALCS Game 4: Astros 10, Rangers 3

Here are the key takeaways from Game 4 at Globe Life field Thursday night:

Game Of Inches Burns Rangers

In the bottom of the fifth, a crucial challenge call by the Astros proved a wise move. With two on and no outs, Corey scorched a line out to first base. Marcus Semien barely had time to react and appeared to dive back to first underneath the glove of Jose Abreu, who made the catch.

But the replay review revealed that Abreu's glove skimmed Semien's batting gloves flopping in his back pocket and the safe call was overturned. That made it two outs with Leody Taveras on second. Evan Carter flew out to center to end the inning.

Seager's line out had an exit velocity of 108.6 mph but he hit it right at Abreu.

Globe Life Field Has Seen It All

Globe Life Field has hosted postseason games for the ALDS, NLDS, ALCS, NLCS and World Series. The ALCS and Wild Card rounds were the only postseason series never hosted at the Rangers' ballpark, which opened in 2020. The ballpark hosted the NLDS, NLCS, and World Series during the COVID-19 pandemic. The stadium is hosting the 2024 All-Star Game. A Wild Card game remains the only postseason series yet to be played at GLF. 

Homers Don't Mean Wins

Before Thursday's ALCS game, teams who hit more home runs than their opponent were 17-3 during the postseason. Of the three losses, two have occurred in the ALCS. The Astros had two homers to the Rangers' one in Game 2 but the Rangers won and Josh Jung's two homers were more than Jose Altuve's homer in the Astros' Game 3 win on Wednesday.

Both teams hit two homers in the Astros' 10-3 Game 4 win Thursday.

Up Next

Left-hander Jordan Montgomery, the Rangers' Game 1 starter, will start Game 5 against right-hander Justin Verlander at 4:03 p.m. Friday at Globe Life Field.

Monty Must Do 'Something Different' for Rangers

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Monty Must Do 'Something Different' for Rangers

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You can follow Stefan Stevenson on Twitter @StefanVersusTex.

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