Malik Wright talks to Texas Rangers MLBbro pitcher Grant Anderson following the team clinching its first trip to the American League Championship Series since 2011.
The Texas Rangers clinched a berth to the American League Championship Series for the first time since 2011 after completing a sweep of the Baltimore Orioles Tuesday night.
Now, they can get some much-needed rest while waiting for the Twins and Astros to finish their battle.
“The way our guys have played has been unbelievable,” said Rangers Third Base coach Tony Beasley who has been with the team for the last eight years.
“We performed day-in and day-out. We had a tough stretch but we answered the bell against two really tough teams. We do not know where we are going next but we are going to stay prepared and enjoy the moment.”
Beasley, a cancer survivor, who grew up in the DMV area and was drafted by the O’s in the 19th round of the 1989 draft, has experienced the highs and lows of baseball with Texas, a franchise who has made the postseason just three times since 2012.
Beasley was waving runners around home all series as the team combined to score 21 runs in three games including seven in the Game 3, the first home playoff game in Arlington since 2016.
The scoring began with a home run by Semiens’ half a billion-dollar double play partner Corey Seager in the first inning.
Then, after a long ten pitch at bat by Nathaniel Lowe began the second, the Rangers would tag starter Dean Kremer for five earned runs, capped off by a three-run bomb from Adolis Garcia.
In that inning, Semien would double and finished the game 1-for-4 with a run scored. After a 2-for-22 stretch at the plate coming into Game 2, Semien has three hits in his last two games.
The Rangers lineup has turned into the modern-day murderer’s row but has still yet to have a vintage game from their leadoff-hitting captain during this run. Him getting on base means more runners on for guys like Seager and Garcia and adds instant pressure to opposing pitching staffs.
The American League Championship Series will begin Sunday night in either the freezing tundra that is Minnesota or “The Juicebox” in Houston, Texas.
The Minnesota Twins proved that they are not to be taken lightly after Game 2 of the ALDS when they blitzed the defending World Series champion Houston Astros 6-2 in Texas to knot the ALDS at 1-1 entering Tuesday night’s pivotal Game 3.
The lines in Vegas didn’t shift too seismically but the magic of Minnesota in the playoffs and the exploits of Kirby Puckett and the gang back in the late 80s and early 90s began to creep into the consciousness of today’s baseball news.
Maybe this is Minnesota’s fairy tale season.
In Game 3, Dusty Baker’s Boyz put a brief halt to the optimism and the reality of the well-rounded team Minnesota was facing hit the Twin City faithful like a sack of baseballs as the Astros pounded out 14 hits en route to a 12-1 thrashing.
The Astros sit just one game away from clinching their seventh straight trip to the ALCS.
The baseball world got reminded of how potent and deep that Astros lineup is when at full strength, especially batters 1-5.
Every player in the starting lineup, except Yainer Diaz, had a hit by the 7th inning. The top five batters in the order were 7-for-19 with six RBI and just two strikeouts though seven innings.
The pesky Twins managed only three hits but kept fighting. They had their opportunities to score, but couldn’t get the key hit when needed, even leaving the bases loaded against Javier in the bottom of the fifth inning.
Yordan Alvarez continues to rake after winning American League Player of the Month in September. He added an insurance run in the 9th-inning with a solo blast to make it 7-1.
Former MVP Jose Abreu followed up his first inning three-run shot with a two-run shot to put the game out of reach at 9-1. It was easily his most impactful game as an Astros player.
For all of Houston’s offensive exploits, it was the pitching that fueled Dusty Baker to his 53rd playoff win and his 30th as manager of the Astros.
The playoffs are where you separate the clutch performers from the regular season imposters. Houston has two of the best arms when it comes to postseason dominance.
Those arms also hold the two longest active postseason scoreless streaks in Major League Baseball.
Starter Cristian Javier racked up nine strikeouts through six innings in Game 3 and now has tossed 17 straight innings without surrendering a run.
Reliever Bryan Abreu has a steak of 13.3 postseason scoreless innings. Two pitchers who were very pivotal in Houston’s World Series run in 2022 continue to show up this postseason.
The Twins managed just three hits and the look on Carlos Correa’s face as the camera flashed to him in the waning moments of the ninth inning was one of concern.
Houston has almost no weaknesses. Minnesota will have to play well above their heads to avoid elimination in Game 4.
Mark Gray was live at the ballpark for Game 2 of the American League Division series between the Baltimore Orioles and Texas Rangers. The Bro Bats came alive.
Marcus Semien got back on track with a two-hit day in the Rangers 11-8 victory over the Orioles Sunday night. Now, needing only one win to clinch a berth to the ALCS, he sets his sights on a sweep in the biggest game in Arlington since the 2011 World Series.
A dark cloud in the form of a 2-for-22 slump had been hanging over Semien his last four games, but he remained optimistic and as his dad Damien told us on a “Baseball Dads” episode of MLBbro Show Podcast-The Mixtape, Semien doesn’t care about his personal stats as long as he helps the team win in some way.
Sunshine would cast over Camden Yards Sunday afternoon as a leadoff single to left by one of the best leadoff hitters in Rangers’ history showed the light at the end of the tunnel. That hit set the tone for how Texas would attack Orioles Starter Grayson Rodriguez, who did not even make it through three innings before exiting the game.
Semien finished 2-for-5 with a walk, an RBI coming on a sacrifice fly and he also scored on Mitch Garvers grand slam, which was the biggest blow in the game.
With the chance to pop champagne for the third time in two weeks and it being the first Rangers home playoff game since 2016, Tuesday night is the most anticipated game in Arlington since Game 5 of the 2012 World Series.
If Semien is on base and in the mix, that spells trouble for the O’s.
He led the American League with 123 runs and if he gives sluggers Corey Seager and Adolis Garcia ducks on the pound, Baltimore can begin finalizing vacation destinations.
Game three will be Tuesday Night at 7 PM on FOX.
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