6 Division titles for the Texas Rangers, including three West titles since 2010. Beltre lined out to right fielder Calhoun.
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“This means a lot”.
Even with the itinerary now taking them to PNC Park, the Cubs head into their first postseason appearance since 2008 brimming with confidence. They have so much passion and energy. A loss by Houston at Arizona on Saturday night would give Texas its first division title since 2011 and would drop the Astros into a tie with the Angels.
Now the Astros are falling to the Diamondbacks 5-3 in the bottom of the eighth and the Yankees need either a win or an Astros loss to clinch home field advantage. The team with the best record can choose to either play at home for two games or play the victor of the first game on the road.
Six strong innings from Dan Haren and a two-run single in the first inning by first baseman Anthony Rizzo were more than enough for the Chicago Cubs to close out the regular season with a 3-1 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers.
“For us, you really have to fight and scratch and grind all the way through as many innings as we can get“, McHugh said.
Collin McHugh earned his 19th victory and Houston clinched at least a tie for the American League’s second wild card. “Like I said, great effort by everybody”.
Manager Mike Scioscia, who concluded his 16th season at the helm of the Angels, said several times in the last week that he had never been more proud of his players. 380 with 20 RBIs against Texas this season.
In the final start of his first season since Tommy John surgery, Nova allowed eight hits in 5⅔ innings, walked three, and hit a batter to raise his ERA to 5.07.
The Texas Rangers might be fortunate the season isn’t any longer with the Astros and Angels right on their heels. They just didn’t have anything left in the tank…running on fumes…but that last jolt they gave us, over September.
That lead vanished on Beltre’s fifth-ininng two-run homer against Richards, and two innings later all hope was lost. “I knew if I kept grinding it out, the team would score”.
Face it. The Rangers had frittered away a couple of chances to clinch the division, none worse than Saturday night’s choke job when they blew a four-run, ninth-inning lead over the Angels in such a wild game that the two clubs combined for 18 pitchers. Fielder singled to left, DeShields scored, Choo to second.
Texas sent 10 hitters to the plate and scored six runs as the Angels were forced to use five relievers to get through the 37-minute half-inning.
“What I normally do in the offseason when it snows outside”, he said.
Cole Hamels will pitch for Texas in Sunday’s season finale. They will play the victor of the American League wild card game between the New York Yankees and the Houston Astros on Thursday.
Nats sweep Mets • Host New York lost its fifth game in a row as Washington’s Max Scherzer pitched his second no-hitter this season (see accompanying story) to win 2-0 for a doubleheader sweep.
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J.A. Happ pitched six strong innings as the Pittsburgh Pirates assured themselves of home field for the wild-card game against the Chicago Cubs with a 4-0 win over Cincinnati.
