(Houston) Adolis Garcia hit two homers and drove in five runs as the Texas Rangers advanced to the World Series with a convincing 11-4 victory over the Houston Astros in Game 7 of the series.American League Championship Series, Monday.
Garcia hit a ground ball out of bounds in a fourth consecutive game and set a major league baseball record with 15 RBIs in a playoff series.
Corey Seager opened the scoring for the Rangers with a long pass in the first inning. Nathaniel Lowe also scored to give Rangers – one of six Major League teams without a title – their first Grand Final appearance since their back-to-back appearances in 2010 and 2011.
After winning the matchup in Texas, the Rangers will begin the World Series at home on Friday, against the Arizona Diamondbacks or the Philadelphia Phillies. The two clubs will play the decisive match of the national championship on Tuesday night.
Bruce Bochy, who came out of retirement this season to coach the Rangers, became the first manager to win a championship series with three different teams, after doing so with the San Diego Padres and San Francisco Giants.
The Astros were trying to defend the title they won last year. No team has won two World Series since the New York Yankees, who triumphed from 1998 to 2000.
The Rangers are perfect in eight road games since the start of the playoffs.
Rangers starter Max Scherzer did not shine in this match. He allowed two runs, four hits and two walks in two and two-thirds innings. But Rangers took advantage of Cristian Javier’s difficult departure to win.
Javier gave up three runs, four safe hits and a free pass when he was removed from the game after just one out. This is the first defeat of Javier’s career in the playoffs.
Reliever Bryan Abreu was able to participate in the game, although his two-game suspension was upheld on appeal Monday. He was sent to the mound in the sixth inning, giving up two runs on a home run by Lowe.
The suspension was to punish a retaliatory pitch that hit Adolis Garcia in the eighth inning of Game 5. Both dugouts were emptied, causing a 12-minute delay. It will be applied at the start of next season.
