Astros vs. Rays Game 3 Preview

Game 3 of the American League Divisional Series will take place today as the Houston Astros head to Tampa.

The Astros have a 2-0 lead against the Rays in a best of five game series.

History

History is not on the Ray’s side this afternoon. Tampa has now dropped nine of their last eleven games in the ALDS, going back to 2010.

Another thing to note is that teams down 0-2 in a best-of- five-series are often 7-1 goners. This is also the third time the Rays have fallen behind 2-0 in a postseason series. Each time, they had won Game 3, but ended up loosing the series.

Game 1

Game 1 of the series had the Astros winning 6-2. Justin Verlander had a historic performance, having the 13th start in postseason history with seven shutout innings and no more than one hit.

The Rays were just not able to get hits off of the future Hall of Fame pitcher. Besides the lack of hitting, the Rays lost momentum when Jose Altuve hit a two-run shot off of Tyler Glasnow.

ALTUVE!!

We have our first runs of the game as Jose Altuve goes deep for the @astros! pic.twitter.com/eFtEc3WN2I

— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) October 4, 2019

A Brandon Lowe error , with runners on second and third base, caused two more runs for the Astros, after the missed routine catch. The Astros finished the game off strong with a couple of RBI doubles by AL Rookie of the Year candidate Yordan Alvarez and Yuli Gurriel.

The Rays were finally able to score once Verlander left the game, with an RBI single by Eric Sogard and a score on a double by Austin Meadows, to make the score 6-2.

Game 2

Game 2 of the series also ended in the Astros being victorious, winning 3-1 against the Rays. Gerrit Cole brought that Houston heat and struck out 15 players, walked one and allowed no runs in his 7 2/3 innings pitched. The 15 strikeouts he pitched are a franchise record for Houston, but only two other pitchers, Kevin Brown (16) and Bob Gibson (17), have struck out more players.

Alex Bregman had a fourth inning homer to put Houston up 1-0. In the seventh, Martin Maldonado brought the Astros up 2-0 after a single to left field sent Gurriel home. Finally, short stop Carlos Correa had an eighth inning single bringing up the score 3-0. The Rays were able to get on the scoreboard in the ninth, but overall their efforts were not enough.

Looking Ahead

Rays center-fielder Kevin Kiermaier is ready for the challenge as the Rays head home to Tropicana Field.

Notables

• Charlie Morton will pitch for the Rays/ 3-0, 0.64 ERA in elimination games
• Tommy Pham leads Rays with .417 batting average in postseason/ only hitter to record multiple hits Saturday
• The Astros are 9-18 in Tropicana Field/ 15-30 all time, on the road during postseason
• No reported injuries

Game 3 between the Astros and Rays will start at 1:05 p.m. in this possible elimination game for the Rays.