ALDS Game Five

Ah, now that's a good deal more like it. This one felt like the wild card game felt last year, the same craziness on the field and in the stands.

The game got off to a mixed start. Johnny Cueto finally started doing the big-game pitching we hired him for. Other than a single and a home run (sadly back to back) in the second, he no-hit one of the best teams in baseball.

Eschewing our previous practice of getting off to an early lead, we held back until the middle innings and then put some offense together. In the bottom halves of the innings, the game played a lot like the Monday victory that got us back home to begin with.

The fifth inning was particularly sweet. We took the lead with station-to-station hitting. Then for the fans of the long ball, Kendrys Morales padded the lead with a three-run blast to center. Nobody wanted to repeat the mistake made by the Governor of Texas (who on Monday during the game tweeted that the Astros were headed to the ALCS), but at that point it looked like we had it in the bag.

Which we did. Pandemonium in the stands. Celebration on the field. Ned Yost got the ice bucket (though it could just as easily have been dumped on Cueto).

For the first time this postseason, things seemed more like 2014.

ASTROS (2) AT ROYALS (7)

ASTROS               AB  R  H BI  ROYALS               AB  R  H BI
Jose Altuve           4  0  0  0  Alcides Escobar       3  1  1  0  
George Springer       4  0  0  0  Ben Zobrist           2  0  0  1  
Carlos Correa         3  0  0  0  Lorenzo Cain          3  2  1  0  
Colby Rasmus          3  0  0  0  Eric Hosmer           4  0  1  1  
Carlos Gomez          3  0  0  0  Kendrys Morales       4  1  1  3  
Evan Gattis           3  1  1  0  Mike Moustakas        4  0  0  0  
Luis Valbuena         3  1  1  2  Salvador Perez        2  1  1  0  
Chris Carter          3  0  0  0  Alex Gordon           3  1  1  0  
Jason Castro          2  0  0  0  Alex Rios             3  1  2  2  
 Preston Tucker       1  0  0  0                                    
TOTALS               29  2  2  2  TOTALS               28  7  8  7

ASTROS                        020 000 000 -- 2  
ROYALS                        000 130 03x -- 7  

LOB--ASTROS 0, ROYALS 2. 2B--Alex Rios, Alex Gordon, Alcides
Escobar. HR--Luis Valbuena, Kendrys Morales. HBP--Salvador
Perez. SACF--Ben Zobrist. SACB--Alcides Escobar.

 ASTROS                          IP    H    R   ER   BB   SO   HR
Collin McHugh                  4.00    5    3    3    1    1    0
Mike Fiers                     1.00    1    1    1    0    0    0
Tony Sipp                      1.67    0    0    0    0    1    0
Pat Neshek                     0.33    0    0    0    0    1    0
Dallas Keuchel                 1.00    2    3    3    1    0    1
 ROYALS                     
Johnny Cueto                   8.00    2    2    2    0    8    1
Wade Davis                     1.00    0    0    0    0    1    0

SO--Colby Rasmus (3), Carlos Gomez, Chris Carter, Evan
Gattis, George Springer (2), Preston Tucker, Alex Rios, Ben
Zobrist, Alex Gordon. BB--Ben Zobrist, Lorenzo Cain.