Texas Rangers at Houston Astros ALCS Game 2 Betting Preview
The battle of Texas moves on, to Monday, where the Texas Rangers hold a 1-0 series lead in the best of seven. The winner heads to the World Series. The Rangers came away with a big 2-0 win in the series opener and have now won all six of their postseason games so far this season.
After finishing 90-72 in the regular season but failing to win the tiebreaker in the American League West, the Rangers swept the Tampa Bay Rays in back-to-back games and then eliminated the Baltimore Orioles in three games.
Houston finished with the same record but was rewarded with the divisional title. The Astros needed four games to take down the Twins in the divisional round. The Astros are once again favorites in Game 2. Houston is listed at -125 over the Rangers.
Texas Clutch Team in October
The Texas Rangers used a Jonah Heim RBI single in the second inning and a Leody Tavares home run in the fifth inning, and that was all they needed.
Jordan Montgomery went 6.1 innings and did not allow a run in the game. The bullpen got the job done, retiring the last eight outs of the game to take a 1-0 lead.
So far in the postseason, the Rangers have clubbed eight home runs. Adolis Garica is the lone hitter with two, as he has also drove in five runs. Mitch Garver leads the team with seven runs batted in.
In the win on Sunday night, Texas had just six hits, with Tavarez coming away with two of them. Leadoff hitter Marcus Semien has struggled this postseason, with just four hits in 27 at bats.
Nathan Eovaldi will get the start for the Texas Rangers in this game. Eovaldi continues to be a productive starting pitcher in Major League Baseball. This season, he went 12-5 with a 3.63 earned run average.
Eovaldi struck out 132 batters this season as well. He made one start in the series over Baltimore, pitching lights out. He went seven innings, allowing five hits, and struck out seven in the game.
Astros Looking For Bats
After getting shutout on Sunday, there is no doubt Dusty Baker and his Astros staff are looking for their bats.
The Astros had just five hits, with Alec Bregman, Jose Abreu, Chas McCormick, Mauricio Dubon, and Jeremy Pena coming up with them. Since the postseason has started, Yordan Alvarez has carried his share of the load with four home runs.
Jose Abreu has done his work as well. Abreu has eight runs batted in, and he is hitting .300 in the postseason. Jose Altuve, like Semien for Texas, at the top of the order, is looking to get things going. He is hitting just .200 in the postseason.
Framber Valdez will be the Game Two starter for the Houston Astros. The 29-year-old threw in Game Two against the Twins. He took the loss, going just 4.1 innings. In that game, he allowed seven hits and five runs. During the regular season, Valdez struck out 200 batters in 198 innings pitched.
Houston Bounces Back
This will be fun to watch. The Houston Astros know they do not want to go to Arlington down 2-0 in this series. Look for an inspired Houston team and some bats that can get to Eovaldi in this game. The Astros find their clutch hitting, and Valdez does enough.
The final bet for Game 2 of the American League Championship Series is the Houston Astros -125 over the Texas Rangers on Monday.
