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On This Day in 2023: Rangers Down Astros to Advance to World Series
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- On This Day in 2023: Rangers Down Astros to Advance to World Series
(USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Connect)
Through the entire regular season series and six postseason games, the Texas Rangers and Houston Astros had the exact same record against each other in 2023.
On this day, they squared off in the decisive Game 7 of the American League Championship Series to determine who would take hold of both in-state bragging rights and the American League Pennant.
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It was the Rangers who rose up to the moment, claiming a monster 11-4 victory on the road and claiming a spot in the World Series for the first time since 2011 and just two years after losing 102 games in 2021.
Corey Seager didn't wait long to get things going as he stepped up to the plate as the second batter of the game and blasted a solo home run into the second deck in right to make it 1-0 Texas.
Adolis Garcia and Mitch Garver both came through with RBI singles later in the inning to make it 3-0 Rangers.
After Garcia homered in the third to make it 4-1, Texas blew the game open in the fourth with a pair of huge swings.
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Evan Carter laced a two-RBI double down the right-field line, and Garcia pulled a two-run single into left to make it 8-2 in the Rangers' favor.
On the mound, Jordan Montgomery came up huge out of the bullpen, throwing 2.1 big innings of shutout baseball to bridge the gap to the leverage relievers.
After Montgomery's strong performance, it was Josh Sborz, Aroldis Chapman, and Jose Leclerc who combined to pitch four innings and allowed just one run to slam the door.
Garcia and Nathaneil Lowe would also hit late-inning home runs to officially put the game to rest.
In the aftermath, Garcia would wind up being named the ALCS MVP after his five-RBI night in Game 7 pushed him to a record-breaking 15 for the series.
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Rangers manager Bruce Bochy also remained perfect in winner-take-all postseason games, while Houston manager Dusty Baker continued his winless win in such games.
Bochy, of course, never managed another postseason game with Texas, so his personal record remains standing today.
With the ALCS going seven and playing out the way it did, the road team would win every game of the series, and the Rangers, of course, continued their perfect road record in the 2023 playoffs.
The win for Texas would set them up with a spot in the World Series, where they would eventually claim their first-ever championship.
