Lopez removed in the seventh inning, causing Houston to cry out for Correa, but Minnesota managed to fight back 1-0.

The Minnesota Twins rallied against the Houston Astros to take Game 2 of the best-of-seven series, 1-1.

Minnesota defeated Houston 6-2 in Game 2 of the American League Division Series (ALDS) of the 2023 Major League Baseball postseason on Monday (Sept. 9) at Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas.

Starting pitcher Pablo Lopez earned the win with seven innings of six-hit, one-run ball, striking out seven, while shortstop Carlos Correa went 4-for-4 with three runs scored, three RBIs and one walk to lead Minnesota at the plate.

While Game 1 was a 6-4 victory for Houston behind a six-inning no-hitter from starter Justin Verlander and a three-hit performance, including a multi-homer game from Jordan Alvarez, Game 2 was the opposite. Minnesota returns home with a 1-1 record on the road trip.

Trade bust Lopez wins both PS 2Gs, ‘dominates fall baseball’

The game was dominated by Minnesota starter Lopez. After starting Game 1 of the wild-card series against the Toronto Blue Jays on April 4 and allowing one run on five hits and two walks while striking out three in 5⅔ innings, Lopez dominated the Houston offense today, 먹튀검증토토사이트 allowing no runs on six hits and one walk while striking out seven in seven innings. Lopez has now won two games this postseason and has a 0.71 ERA, showing signs of being a big-game pitcher.

After giving up a leadoff single to Houston’s Jose Altuve in the first inning, Lopez retired the next three batters. With the bases loaded in the third, he induced Martin Maldonado to ground into a double play, and with runners on first and third in the fourth, he struck out Chas McCormick on three pitches. The 95.7 mph high fastball worked. In the fifth, he gave up a leadoff double to Jeremy Peña, but retired the next three batters in a row.

After a triple in the sixth and a single in the seventh, Lopez finished with 105 pitches. 69 strikes, 36 balls. Topped out at 97 mph (156.1 km/h) and averaged 95.9 mph (154.3 km/h) with a four-seam fastball (33), plus a changeup (27), sinker (23), sweeper (16) and curve (6). When it came to striking out batters, his pitches varied with a four-seam, sinker, two changeups, and one sweeper.

Lopez came to Minnesota via trade in January. The Twins traded slugger Luis Araez to the Miami Marlins to bolster their starting rotation, and it worked. Lopez, who signed a four-year, $73.5 million extension with Minnesota in mid-April, had a career-high season, going 11-8 with a 3.66 ERA in a career-high 194 innings pitched in 32 games this year. He continued his momentum in fall ball, making him a trade bait.

Correa goes 3-for-3 with a home run, three RBIs, and a “fire bat and great defense

At the plate, Correa went 3-for-4 with two doubles, a triple, three RBIs and a walk. Drafted by Houston with the first overall pick in the 2012 First-Year Player Draft, Correa made his major league debut in 2015 and was the starting shortstop through 2021. In his seven years with Houston, he batted .257 with 133 home runs, 489 RBIs and an .837 OPS in 752 games.

Correa, who was a key part of Houston’s World Series championships in 2017 and 2021, has been strong in fall ball, and in his first year of fall ball in Minnesota, he’s exploding through four games, going 5-for-15 with four home runs and an OPS of 1.321.

Correa opened the scoring in the first inning. With two on and one out, he took a three-pitch curveball up the middle from Houston left-hander Framber Valdez and crushed it over the left-center field fence. It was a two-run double to start the inning.

In the second, Minnesota added a run on a Willie Castro single and a Kyle Palmer homer to left-center field. They added two more runs in the fifth, this time off the bat of Correa. After back-to-back singles by Michael A. Taylor and Donovan Solano and a walk to Royce Lewis loaded the bases, Correa blasted a two-run double to center field. He took a low sinker up the middle of Valdez’s third pitch. The score was 5-0.

It gave Correa 63 RBIs in the postseason, tying him with David Justice for third all-time in that category. Behind Bernie Williams (80 RBIs) and Manny Ramirez (78).

Minnesota broke through in the seventh inning, and Correa was there to do it. Lewis singled, Correa doubled and Ryan Jeffers was hit by a pitch to load the bases and pinch-hitter Eduard Julien lined a single to right to seal the win.

Correa also provided the final out of the game. In the bottom of the ninth inning, he leapt to his feet on Houston Peña’s line drive to left field and made a quick throw to first base for the final out.

Houston’s bats went silent after Valdez’s ‘five-run’ start

Houston starter Valdez was tagged with the loss after allowing five runs on seven hits (one homer) and three walks with five strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings. He topped out at 96.6 mph (155.5 km/h) and averaged 95.1 mph (153.0 km/h) with a sinker (35), changeup (29), curve (15), and cutter (11), but overall his pitches were not working. Molina kept getting hard-hit by a lot of pitches.

The Houston offense was also stymied by Lopez, unable to break through. After Lopez went down, the Astros scored two runs off Minnesota reliever Brock Stewart in the eighth inning. Alex Bregman walked and Alvarez followed with a two-run shot to left-center field. After a multi-homer game in Game 1, Alvarez went cannonball in Game 2.

Altuve and Peña also had multi-hit games for Naraha, going 2-for-4, but Kyle Cutter and Alex Bregman went 0-for-3 and Jose Abreu went 0-for-4. They went 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position.

The teams will have one day off on the 10th before shifting venues to Minnesota’s Target Field on the 11th and 12th to continue the ALDS. Game 3 will be started by Minnesota’s Sonny Gray and Houston’s Javier Baez.