Texas Rangers Take Down the Houston Astros in Game 7

The Texas Rangers defeated the reigning champion Houston Astros 11-4 in Game 7 of the ALCS on Monday night. The Rangers punched their ticket to the World Series for the first time since 2011.

The moment. #GoAndTakeIt pic.twitter.com/VJlCZusu88

— Texas Rangers (@Rangers) October 24, 2023

First Inning Scoring

The Rangers bats were on fire to open up Game 7. In just the game’s second at bat, Corey Seager stepped up to the plate and hit a rocket to right center field to silence the sellout crowd and get the Rangers on the board.

Texas Rangers Manager Bruce Bochy explained how Corey Seager’s first inning home run fired up the whole club.

But the Rangers weren’t done scoring yet.

Shortly after, Adolis Garcia singled to deep left field to allow Evan Carter to reach home plate and make the score 2-0. Quickly after that, Mitch Garver brought Garcia home off a single to center field to put the Rangers up 3-0.

Houston responded to the Rangers dominating inning in the bottom of the 1st. Jose Abreu singled to left field and allowed a runner to score cutting their deficit to 3-1. However, Max Scherzer shut down the Astros to close out the inning and left a runner stranded on third.

Texas Rangers’ Unstoppable Push in the 4th

After a home run from Garcia in the 3rd inning, the Rangers stretched their lead to 4-1. But a homerun from Houston’s Alex Bregman made it 4-2 keeping the Astros alive and giving them hope for a comeback.

However, their efforts were short lived.

The Rangers were lights out in the 4th inning adding four runs to their lead. A double from Evan Carter scored Josh Jung and Marcus Semien and advanced Corey Seager to third base. Another hit from Garcia scored Seager in and kept the run going for the Rangers.

Garcia was unstoppable for the Rangers earning the much-deserved honor as MVP of the ALCS. He recorded three runs and five RBIs to stretch the Rangers lead, leaving no hope for the Astros. Overall for the series, Garcia hit .357 with five home runs and 15 RBIs.

https://twitter.com/MLBONFOX/status/1716662298557759778

After the game, Bochy said the Rangers are lucky to have Garcia.

Reigning Champs Sent Home

After winning the World Series in 2022, the Astros’ hopes of repeating was cut short by the Rangers.

Regardless, Houston Manager Dusty Baker talked about how proud he is of his team and how far they’ve come.

“We’ve been spoiled around here as far as just winning, winning, and winning,” he said. “Heck I’ve been here four years and we’ve been to two World Series and two Championship Series. We have nothing to be ashamed of and nothing to hold our head down about, every team in baseball would trade to have the last four years that we’ve had.”

However, there’s a difference between losing and getting beat, Baker explained. On Monday night, the Astros simply got beat.

Next Up: World Series

The Texas Rangers advance to the World Series to face the winner of the NLCS. Game 7 of the NLCS between the Arizona Diamondbacks and Philadelphia Phillies is on Tuesday. The winner will join the Rangers as the final series opens up on Friday.