The Rays couldn’t finish the miracle

Gerrit Cole pitched another masterpiece. The Astros spotted him four runs in the first inning, and he pretty much cruised from there, his two-hit performance spoiled only by an unlikely home run on the first pitch of the second inning by bespectacled journeyman Eric Sogard, who came into the game batting .133 against Cole, and had hit only 24 lifetime homers in nine major league seasons. Sogard had his dream season in 2019, batting .290, a spectacular improvement over a 2018 season that would have embarrassed Ray Oyler (.134 with no homers).

The Houston victory sets up the dream match-up with the Yanks. The 2019 Yankees and Astros are second and third of all time in team home runs. The Astros also set the all-time record for the highest team slugging percentage, while the Yankees earned the #4 spot on that list!

Houston and New York played seven games during the regular season. The Astros swept a three-game series way back in early April, then the Yankees took the second series 3-1.