With two games at home and Sonny Gray on the mound, the Twins' route to the AL Championship Series seemed sunny and bright. Now? Everywhere they look, there are shadows. Shadows made Cristian Javier's slider difficult to detect, the Twins said Tuesday, though the Astros had far less trouble picking up Gray's pitches in the midafternoon sunlight. Suddenly, a team that came home dreaming of the .
Carlos Correa was back at Minute Maid Park, starring in the playoffs like he had so many times before. Correa had three hits and three RBIs and Pablo López pitched seven shutout innings, helping the Minnesota Twins beat the Houston Astros 6-2 on Sunday night in Game 2 of their AL Division Series. Kyle Farmer hit a two-run homer for the Twins, who bounced back nicely after losing 6-4 in the series opener on Saturday night.
The Arizona Diamondbacks celebrated their return to the postseason with the typical party, a champagne-soaked fun fest in the clubhouse that eventually included a dip in the Chase Field swimming pool behind the right-center field wall. The Houston Astros celebrated their return to the postseason by doing — well, not much of anything. Justin Verlander threw five innings, José Abreu hit a run-scoring double and the Astros beat the Diamondbacks 1-0 as both teams clinched spots in the upcoming playoffs.
José Urquidy had already delivered five brilliant innings in an emergency start when Houston Astros manager Dusty Baker ambled to the mound in the sixth, ready to take the right-hander out of the game after Arizona's Ketel Marte reached on a leadoff single. Urquidy pleaded his case to stay in. “I've got this inning,” Urquidy told him.