SI:AM | Rangers Ride Starting Pitching to Victory Again

Plus, a shake-up in NFL power rankings.

Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. No one is going to beat the Phillies if they keep hitting home runs like that.

In today’s SI:AM:

⚾ Texas’s postseason stud

📊 NFL power rankings

🤠 Cowboys win the “revenge game”

The Astros are in trouble

The Rangers are taking a 2–0 lead back to Arlington after holding on to beat the Astros, 5–4, in Game 2 of the ALCS yesterday in Houston.

The story was the same as it was in Game 1, as Texas got enough length from its starting pitcher to limit what its shaky bullpen was asked to do. In Game 1, that length came from Jordan Montgomery, who pitched 6⅓ scoreless innings. In Game 2, it was Nathan Eovaldi who kept the Rangers in the game. He allowed three runs in six innings of work, which, after Astros starter Framber Valdez allowed five runs, was good enough to keep Texas ahead.

The Rangers acquired Montgomery and Eovaldi with moments like this in mind. Montgomery was a trade deadline addition from the Cardinals, while Eovaldi was part of Texas’s big free-agent class. Eovaldi in particular was signed in hopes of replicating the postseason success he had with the Red Sox.

“We wanted Evo because we needed to build a pitching culture,” Rangers general manager Chris Young told Tom Verducci. “We needed to build a winning mentality in our pitching.

“We wanted Evo because of the exact reasons we’re seeing. He’s a winner, he’s done it, he’s a leader, he makes everybody around him better and he brings everybody together. He surpassed everything we could have hoped.”

Eovaldi is a decent pitcher in the regular season, with a 4.10 ERA (his career ERA+ is 103, with 100 being average), but he’s shown up in the biggest moments. In 14 postseason games (the first 11 of which were with Boston), he has an ERA of 2.87 and a WHIP of 0.941. His ability to come through in the clutch was on full display in the fifth inning yesterday. After two singles and an error, the Astros had the bases loaded with nobody out. But Eovaldi retired the next three batters to get out of the inning unscathed.

Montgomery and Eovaldi going deep into games is crucial because the Rangers’ bullpen is their obvious weak link. Texas has three reliable relievers: Aroldis Chapman, Josh Sborz and José Leclerc. Those three were the only relievers the Rangers used in the two-game wild-card series against the Rays and in the first two games of this series. But even those guys can be shaky at times. Chapman was pulled yesterday after giving up a home run to Yordan Alvarez and replaced by Leclerc, who walked the first two batters he faced before getting out of the inning.

The Rangers’ starting pitching could be tested in Game 3 tomorrow, with Max Scherzer scheduled to return from injury to get the start. Scherzer was left off the roster for the first two rounds of the playoffs with a shoulder injury. It’s been more than a month since his last start Sept. 12. Texas needs him to step up and equal what Montgomery and Eovaldi did in the first two games of the series, or manager Bruce Bochy needs to at least have a solid plan if Scherzer struggles to shake off the rust.

The best of Sports Illustrated

Rebecca Blackwell/AP

• Nick Castellanos hit yet another home run as the Phillies took Game 1 of the NLCS from the D-Backs.
• Conor Orr’s NFL power rankings got a shake-up after a weekend full of upsets.
• Last night’s game between the Cowboys and Chargers was billed as a revenge game against former Dallas offensive coordinator Kellen Moore. But while the Cowboys won the game, their offense looked sloppy again without Moore calling the shots, Gilberto Manzano writes.
• Albert Breer spoke with Texans rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud about the culture first-year coach DeMeco Ryans has built in Houston.
• The latest installment of Kevin Sweeney’s men’s college basketball preview series deals with the Big East.
• Pat Forde breaks down how a few teams can get into the College Football Playoff with one loss.
• A’s reliever Trevor May bashed owner John Fisher while announcing his retirement.

The top five...

… things I saw yesterday:

5. Ricochet’s shooting star press from the stands on Monday Night Raw.

4. Bryce Harper’s birthday candle celebration after hitting a home run on his 31st birthday.

3. The overenthusiastic Chargers fan.

2. Adolis García’s cartwheel to avoid being hit by a pitch.

1. The Cowboys’ Spanish-language announcers calling the game from the main press box.

SIQ

Which city hosted the first indoor World Series game? (I won’t tell you the year, but today is the anniversary of the game.)

• Minneapolis
• Seattle
• Houston
• Toronto

Yesterday’s SIQ: Aaron Boone hit his famous walk-off home run in Game 7 of the ALCS against the Red Sox 20 years ago Monday. But Boone wasn’t in the starting lineup for the Yankees that night. Who started at third?

• Robin Ventura
• Todd Zeile
• Miguel Cairo
• Enrique Wilson

Answer: Enrique Wilson. Boone had been acquired from the Reds at the trade deadline as an upgrade over the aging Robin Ventura (who was traded to the Dodgers the same day Boone was added). But Boone wasn’t having a great ALCS (he was 2-for-16 in the first six games of the series), and manager Joe Torre decided to go with the switch-hitting Wilson against Game 7 starter Pedro Martínez.

Torre pulled Wilson in the eighth inning in favor of pinch hitter Rubén Sierra. When Sierra was walked intentionally, Torre put Boone in to run for him, and the rest is history.