Postseason 2023 | D-backs won their first game, Astros tied the series. Abreu and Gurriel stood out

Cuban MLB Players News for the 2023 postseason. A compendium from several sources

Lourdes Gurriel Jr. in Game 3 Thursday night (Photo: MLB)

Oct 19

National League Championship Series

D-backs 2, Phillies 1

Phillies lead 2-1

In the third game of the National League Championship Series, the Diamondbacks prevailed 2-1 before a sellout crowd at Chase Field.

Starting pitcher Brandon Pfaadt and infielder Ketel Marte were the stars of the show. A historically strong offense was suffocated by Pfaadt, who threw 5 2/3 scoreless innings with 9 strikeouts and only 2 hits during his third postseason outing.

Then, during the game, Marte added three more hits - two doubles - , including a decisive single in the bottom of the nineth inning.

The D-backs were 1-0 down in the bottom of the seventh inning of Game 3, when Lourdes Gurriel Jr. produced an RBI-double down the third base line. It couldn't have come at a better time for him to get his first RBI in a championship series.

A team behind 2-1 in a best-of-seven postseason series has won 44 times out of 148 (30%), which still puts the Phillies in the drivers' seat.

Game 4 of the series will be played on Friday at 8:07 pm (ET).

Lourdes Gurriel Jr. went 2-for-3 with an RBI and also stole a base on Thursday in the Diamondbacks’ win over the Phillies in Game 3 of the NLCS.

After going 0-for-8 in the first two games of the series, Gurriel Jr. delivered a game-tying RBI double into the left-field corner off Phillies rookie reliever Orion Kerkering in the seventh inning as part of a multi-hit performance. He also drew a leadoff walk in the bottom of the ninth inning, and proceeded to steal second base off Phillies veteran stopper Craig Kimbrel, before being thrown out at the plate for the first out of the frame.

American League Championship Series

Astros 10, Rangers 3

Series tied 2-2

With a 10-3 win over the Texas Rangers in Game 4, the Houston Astros evened the best-of-seven ALCS at two games apiece.

It was a tough start for both starting pitchers, as they allowed six runs in three innings of work combined. With a home run in the ALCS, Seager ended his slump, and José Abreu hit his fourth home run of the postseason for the Astros. Yordan Álvarez also continued his torrid hitting adding three RBI to reach 13 this postseason.

According to sportswriter Sarah Langs, José Abreu and Yordan Álvarez are 2 of 21 players with 4+ HR and 10+ RBI in their teams’ 1st 8 games of a single postseason (or fewer). They’re also the first teammates to do in the same year.

Despite a potentially controversial double play, Abreu helped squelch Astros' hopes in the bottom of the fifth. The play, which went to review, was confirmed.

Game 5 will be held in Arlington Friday at 5:07 pm (ET), but the series tie assures that there will be a Game 6 in Houston.

José Abreu clobbered a three-run homer on Thursday, leading the Astros to a 10-3 blowout victory over the Rangers in Game 4 of the ALCS.

Abreu gave the Astros a commanding four-run lead with a gargantuan 438-foot round-tripper to left-center field off rookie southpaw Cody Bradford with two outs in the fourth inning. It was his fourth long ball of the postseason so far. He also drew a leadoff walk in the seventh inning, stole his first base since the 2021 season, and came around to score on Chas McCormick’s two-run homer later in the frame. With the victory, the Astros have pulled even in the best-of-five series after dropping the first two contests at home.

Yordan Álvarez went 2-for-4 with three RBI on Thursday in the Astros’ one-sided victory over the Rangers in Game 4 of the ALCS.

Álvarez continues putting together one of the strongest performances in postseason history as he holds a stratospheric 1.522 OPS with 13 RBI in just eight playoff contests so far. The 26-year-old superstar delivered a first-inning RBI single, tacked on a bases-loaded sacrifice fly in the fourth inning and also added an eighth-inning RBI single.

Adolis García went 2-for-4 with a solo homer on Thursday in the Rangers’ blowout loss to the Astros in Game 4 of the ALCS.

García injected some life into Globe Life Field momentarily when he blasted a solo shot off righty José Urquidy in the second inning to put the Rangers on the scoreboard. It was his third long ball of the playoffs.