Astros beat Diamondbacks 8-1 to earn third straight AL West title

PHOENIX — The Houston Astros celebrated clinching a playoff spot with T-shirts and a subdued toast.

A day later, after rallying to say a much bigger prize of their crosshairs, the Astros held an all-out locker room rager of cigars and champagne-and-beer showers that left puddles on the plastic-covered flooring.

A season of accidents and inconsistencies ended with one other division title. Even for a staff that gained the World Series final fall, that’s price celebrating.

The Astros rallied to clinch their third straight AL West title, beating the Arizona Diamondbacks 8-1 on Sunday behind Cristian Javier’s six sturdy innings and Alex Bregman’s two-run homer.

“A lot of people wanted to know what it’s like if the Astros didn’t win the division,” Bregman stated earlier than popping the cork on a champagne bottle. “I guess we’ll never know.”

Needing a win and a Texas loss to win the division, the Astros did their half by leaping on Kyle Nelson (7-4) from the primary pitch. Houston had a 5-0 lead after two innings and Javier (10-5) held an Arizona lineup largely devoid of on a regular basis gamers to a few hits.

PHOTOS: Astros beat Diamondbacks 8-1 to earn third straight AL West title

Kyle Tucker had a sacrifice fly to complete with 112 RBIs, most within the AL and third within the majors. José Abreu added a two-run homer within the seventh to clinch Houston’s sixth AL West title in seven years after the Rangers misplaced 1-0 to Seattle.

The Astros have a first-round bye within the AL playoffs whereas Arizona will play at Milwaukee in a best-of-three NL wild card collection that begins Tuesday.

“At the end of the day, we kept it within striking distance and put it together at the end, which makes it very special,” Houston common supervisor Dana Brown stated.

Houston had a strong comply with as much as its second World Series title, ending 90-72 after going 106-56 final season. The Astros’ fourth straight victory to shut the common season gave supervisor Dusty Baker his thirteenth season with no less than 90 wins.

“I didn’t want to end on 89 and we got to 90,” Baker stated in between champagne dousings.

The Diamondbacks backed into the playoffs, scoring two runs in three video games towards the Astros to shut the common season on a four-game dropping streak. Arizona completed 84-78 after going 74-88 final season and dropping 110 video games the yr earlier than.

“You definitely want to finish on a high note, but it’s whatever and you’ve got to throw it away,” Diamondbacks outfielder Alex Thomas stated. “Now we’ve got October baseball to focus on.”

The Astros and Diamondbacks had twin celebrations Saturday evening after clinching playoff spots.

Houston did it with a 1-0 victory over Arizona that led to a muted response within the clubhouse for the reigning World Series champions.

The Diamondbacks celebrated within the dugout when Cincinnati’s 15-6 loss to St. Louis clinched their first playoff berth since 2017. They had a way more raucous celebration after the sport, a celebration that spilled over into the pool behind Chase Field’s right-center wall.

Still inside attain of the AL West title, the Astros jumped on the Diamondbacks early, needing two pitches to take a 2-0 lead.

Jose Altuve opened with a single and Bregman adopted together with his twenty fifth homer, a two-run shot to left. Houston scored one other run on Arizona first baseman Emmanuel Rivera’s throwing error and went up 4-0 on Jeremy Peña’s run-scoring single.

Tucker hit a sacrifice fly within the second inning and made it 6-0 within the fifth with a triple and head’s up baserunning after Diamondbacks shortstop Jordan Lawlar held the relay throw.

“Maybe we were a little flat, most of us were probably up a little late last night,” Arizona supervisor Torey Lovullo stated. “For sure there was a little lull in focus and energy. I get that, but let’s push that aside.”

HOMER, NO HOMER

Tucker’s bid to develop into the second member of Houston’s 30-30 went on a wild journey.

Tucker’s triple and run within the fifth was initially dominated an error on the Diamondbacks, then a fielder’s alternative.

After session with the Elias Sports Bureau, the official scorer modified it to an inside-the-park homer, seemingly giving Tucker his thirtieth homer.

One inning later, after one other session, Tucker’s hit was modified again to a triple and fielder’s alternative, leaving Jeff Bagwell (1997 and 1999) as the one Houston participant with 30 homers and 30 stolen bases in a season.

DIAMONDBACKS ATTENDANCE

The Diamondbacks drew 30,703 followers for his or her remaining residence sport, ending with 1,961,182 for the season. It was Arizona’s highest residence attendance since eclipsing 2.1 million in 2019.

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