Houston Astros Brush Past Minneapolis Twins To Clinch 7th Consecutive ALCS Bid

Houston Astros

Jose Abreu homered again for the Houston Astros against the Minnesota Twins, his third in 2 games, as the Texan team clinched their 7th consecutive bid for the American League Championship Series. A stingy outing from Dominican pitcher Cristian Javier restricted the Twins to just one hit over 5 innings without a score. Abreu’s 2-run rocket in the 4th inning propelled the Houston Astros while Jose Urquidy provided the seasoned Astros with another strong start in the postseason. He withstood home runs from Edouard Julien and Royce Lewis in the 1st, and then the 6th.

Bryan Abreu And Hector Neris Together Had 5 Strikeouts For Houston Astros

Houston Astros to host state rivals Texas Rangers in Game One of the AL Championship Series on Sunday. They meet in the postseason for the first time in a Texas-sized series. Justin Verlander is scheduled to make his 36th start in the postseason for the Houston Astros. Verlander is a 3-time American League CY Young Award-winning pitcher.

Houston Astros manager Dusty Baker had Verlander do the victory speech. The Astros are 56-34 since 2017 and have 10 homers this series. Michael Brantley gave the Astros a solid start, delivering a solo hit in the 2nd against Joe Ryan, the Minnesotan starter. With an out, Bryan hit a fastball to enable a strong 3-1 lead.

Yordan Alvarez and Alex Bregman also got homers for the Houston Astros, with the latter having 4 this series. The remaining relievers brought the Minnesotans back, as when Paddack pitched 2 1/3 innings without a hit and with 4 strikeouts. However, the Twins lacked sufficient hits to get over the misses and swings. Abreau, Rafael Montero, and Phil Maton held the Minnesotans hitless in the last 3 innings, combining for 5 strikeouts.