The Houston Astros are one victory away from advancing to the American League Championship Series thanks to another strong October performance from Cristian Javier.
Javier allowed just one hit over five scoreless innings in his first postseason start since a joint World Series no-hitter last year, and the Houston Astros blasted four home runs in a 9-1 victory at Target Field. With a victory on Wednesday, Houston can secure its seventh consecutive ALCS appearance after taking a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five division series.
Javier relied primarily on his slider, which is generally challenging to square and particularly impacted when the weather impairs batters’ vision, and generated 11 swings and misses with the pitch by taking advantage of the shadows that the 3 p.m. start had cast over the field.
After Max Kepler doubled in the first inning, the 26-year-old Javier managed to get through the risky Twins lineup without causing any additional harm. He wriggled out of jams in the first, third, and fifth innings, the latter of which he highlighted with back-to-back strikeouts of Kepler and Twins cleanup hitter Royce Lewis. He walked five and struck out nine.
In an effort to influence Javier, Twins supporters began counting down the pitch clock in tandem throughout the first inning. The outcomes were about as anticipated for a player whose unflappability is as much a defining quality as his undetectable fastball and sly slider.
Veteran Martin Maldonado, his catcher, smiled at the thought of Javier being off-balance.
Everyone witnessed a passable imitation of what Javier presented in October. He made his first playoff appearance in Game 3 of the ALCS, pitching 513 innings of shutout ball while allowing just one hit. He pitched six hitless innings in Game 4 of the World Series eleven days later, teaming with three relievers to produce just the second no-hitter in Series history.
Javier has restricted opponents to a.040 batting average (2-for-50) throughout the course of his three postseason outings. He joined fellow Hall of Famers Whitey Ford and Christy Mathewson as the fourth pitcher in history with at least three consecutive shutout starts of five innings or longer, who have streaks of complete games along with Kenny Rogers.
Dusty Baker, the manager of the Astros, thought about benching Javier when he walked with the bases loaded in the fifth, but decided against it.
There was never any doubt about the team winning. First baseman Jose Abreu, playing in his first season with the Astros, hit a three-run home run off Twins starter Sonny Gray in the first inning then added a two-run homer in the ninth to put the Astros up. Alex Bregman and Yordan Alvarez, who has four in the series, hit home runs for the Astros in the interim.
Javier on the mound makes it even harder. Although Javier struggled in his first full season as a starter, with a 4.56 ERA that was more than two runs higher than the year before, the Javier we see in October is faultless. especially when his slider is “tremendous,” as he described it. I felt it was really excellent. I was fortunate enough to get it inside the strike zone. My entire strategy was to employ it in an assault.
With two hits off reliever Hunter Brown in the sixth, Minnesota, whose home run-happy offense helped win the AL Central, scored its lone run. Over the last three innings, Bryan Abreu, Phil Maton, and Rafael Montero held the Twins without a hit while tallying a combined five strikeouts.
In Game 4, Joe Ryan will start for the Twins against Jose Urquidy of Houston. Both clubs’ bullpens are anticipated to have a big impact on the game.
