Rangers, Astros Aim to Clinch in Texas Today

The series begins Friday at Kauffman Stadium.

It was a pretty good start for Lance McCullers just allowing two runs in seven innings. It was the only mistake Cueto made. He struck out eight without a walk in the kind of clutch performance the Royals expected when they got him from the Reds.

While Cueto was brought in to be the staff ace, he was disappointing until Wednesday.

“I told him, ‘Man, you’ve got a team that’s going to be good for years to come, ‘” Yost said, shortly after the Royals had defeated the Astros 7-2 in Game 5 of the AL Division Series. Will Harris came in to pitch for the Astros, & promptly gave up three straight singles, which loaded the bases. It was his first postseason victory. The difference is that they had a 2-0 lead when the day started.

“That was a tough one”, said Houston 20-game victor Dallas Keuchel, who yielded a three-run homer in the ninth to Royals designated hitter Kendrys Morales.

Nothing, actually, after the second inning.

Mixing quick-pitch fastballs with hesitation changeups, Cueto made the Astros look foolish most of the night.

On the next pitch, Valbuena sent his two-run homer streaking into the Astros bullpen.

While the Major League Baseball postseason is still in play, teams are already making plans for 2016.

In a series in which the Royals’ offense has struggled to produce runs, it would seem that Ventura’s margin for error will be virtually nonexistent. But by the fifth, the Royals had figured out McHugh’s darting curveball. Perez was hit by a pitch leading off the inning and stopped at third on Gordon’s ground-rule double to right.

Shortstop Alcides Escobar bunted Rios to third and Zobrist got him home with a flyout to right fielder George Springer. Colby Rasmus then continued the hottest streak of his career by hitting a home run of his own and giving the Astros a 6-2 lead. DH Evan Gattis, who had a. 150 average with no extra-base hits and one RBI in postseason play entering Wednesday, was dropped to sixth…. Commissioner Rob Manfred was on hand for the game….