HOUSTON — Nathan Eovaldi remained unbeaten this postseason, Mitch Garver had three hits and two RBIs and Adolis Garcia socked a grand slam as the Texas Rangers defeated the host Houston Astros 9-2 in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series on Sunday.
The Rangers squared the best-of-seven series at 3-3 and forced a decisive Game 7 on Monday by extending their road winning streak to seven games this postseason. Texas won for just the second time in 10 games when facing elimination and snapped a five-game skid in such contests.
The road team has won all six games of the ALCS. The road team won all seven games of the 2019 World Series, with the Astros falling to the Washington Nationals at Minute Maid Park.
The Rangers got a solo home run from Garver leading off the second inning and a two-run blast by Jonah Heim in the fourth to take a 3-1 lead.
Eovaldi (4-0) settled in after surrendering an RBI single to Yordan Alvarez in the bottom of the first that scored Jose Altuve. He retired the side in order in the second and fourth and worked around a pair of walks in the third before Alvarez led off the sixth with a single.
Alvarez subsequently scored on Mauricio Dubon’s sacrifice fly that cut the margin to 3-2, but Eovaldi held the line there. He departed after surrendering a one-out single to Altuve in the seventh. He was charged with two runs on five hits and three walks, and he struck out four.
The Astros finished 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position against Eovaldi and 1-for-8 overall.
Garver knotted the score at 1-1 with his opposite-field blast to right off Astros left-hander Framber Valdez (0-3). Two innings later, Valdez quickly recorded two outs before Garver singled ahead of Heim, whose two-run shot also went the opposite way to right, giving Texas a 3-1 lead.
Garver produced an RBI double in the eighth off Astros reliever Bryan Abreu, scoring Evan Carter, who reached on an infield single and stole second base.
Rangers closer Jose Leclerc then pitched out of a jam in the bottom of the eighth, getting Dubon to hit a soft liner to shortstop Corey Seager before winning an eight-pitch confrontation against pinch-hitter Jon Singleton with a strikeout to strand the bases loaded.
Garcia, who was 0-for-4 with four strikeouts and serenaded with boos during every plate appearance, blew it open with a grand slam off Astros reliever Ryne Stanek in the ninth.
–By MK Bower, Field Level Media