Correa stars against former team as Twins beat Astros in Game 2 to tie ALDS

Carlos Correa had three hits and three RBIs and Pablo Lopez pitched seven shutout innings, helping the Minnesota Twins beat the Astros 6-2 in Houston 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.

Game 3 of the best-of-five series is at Minnesota on Tuesday.

Correa, an October star for so many years in Houston, has returned to the post-season with a vengeance after lamenting how much he missed the playoffs when Minnesota stumbled last year in his first season with the Twins.

Correa hit an RBI double in the first inning in Game 2. He added a two-run single to centre in the fifth, lifting the Twins to a 5-0 lead. He also robbed Jeremy Pena of a hit with a terrific defensive play for the final out.

Correa has eight hits and four RBIs in four games this post-season, helping the Twins to three playoff wins.

Lopez pitched a gem after leading the Twins to the victory in Game 1 of the Wild Card Series. He yielded six hits and struck out seven while lowering his ERA to 0.71 this post-season.

He kept the Astros off balance with a fastball that averaged 95.9 MPH, slightly up from his season average.

Yordan Alvarez, who homered twice in Houston's win in Game 1, cut the lead to 6-2 with a two-run shot in the eighth inning. But Jhoan Duran pitched a perfect ninth for Minnesota.

The Astros had to hold off a Twins rally in the series opener, but they played from behind throughout Game 2.

Willi Castro hit a leadoff single in the second for the Twins, and Farmer followed with a 377-foot drive to left-centre against Framber Valdez. The homer was Farmer's first post-season hit after going 0 for 10 in eight career games.

Valdez departed after Correa's clutch swing in the fifth. He was charged with five runs and seven hits in 4 1/3 innings.

Correa's two-run single gave him 63 career RBIs in the playoffs, tying David Justice for third-most in MLB history. He celebrated by pounding his chest and shouting "Let's go," before pointing to his ecstatic dugout.

Rangers win 4th straight

Mitch Garver hit a third-inning grand slam and the Texas Rangers won their fourth consecutive game to start this post-season, pushing the Orioles to the brink of elimination with an 11-8 victory in Game 2 of the AL Division Series on Sunday in Baltimore.

The wild-card Rangers have outscored the Orioles and Tampa Bay — the top two teams in the American League in the regular season — by 25-11. Bruce Bochy moved within one win of his first AL Championship Series as a manager. He reached that round four times in the National League, winning three World Series titles with San Francisco.

Gunnar Henderson and Aaron Hicks homered for the AL East champion Orioles, who haven't been swept in a series of at least two games since May 2022. They're now in danger of doing that at a most inopportune time.

Hicks drove in five runs, including a three-run shot with one out in the ninth that brought the Orioles within three runs for the first time since before Garver's grand slam. But it was too little, too late.

Texas fell behind for the first time this post-season when the Orioles scored two runs in the first, but the Rangers answered with five in the second to knock out rookie Grayson Rodriguez. Garver, a backup catcher who hadn't played yet in the 2023 playoffs, hit his grand slam for a 9-2 lead.

Garver came up again with the bases loaded in the fifth but hit into a double play. Even that brought home another run.

Corey Seager became the first player to walk five times in a post-season game and scored twice. Baltimore pitchers walked 11, their most in a game since 2019, and six of those runners scored.

Texas became the first team in post-season history with seven hits and seven walks through three innings, according to Sportradar. The Rangers finished the game with 11 of each to go with their 11 runs.

Hicks, who missed a key sign in the ninth inning of Game 1, poked a bases-loaded single to right field in the first. But the bottom of the Texas batting order barely gave the Camden Yards crowd time to feel hopeful.

A walk, a single and a two-run double by No. 9 hitter Leody Taveras tied the game. Marcus Semien grounded out to the mound, with first baseman Ryan Mountcastle needing to make a diving snag of Rodriguez's wild throw. After a walk to Seager, Garver hit a dribbler in front of the plate that brought home a run, and he beat it out when Rodriguez lobbed the ball weakly to first.

Danny Coulombe got out of the second for Baltimore, but Bryan Baker walked the bases loaded with one out in the third. Then Jacob Webb came in and allowed his second homer of the series — the drive by Garver that carried past the big wall at Camden Yards that the Orioles pushed back before the 2022 season.

Neither starting pitcher made it through the fifth. Cody Bradford got the win in relief of Jordan Montgomery, tossing 3 2/3 scoreless innings.

Down 9-2, the Orioles chipped away a bit. They scored twice in the fourth on an RBI single by Jorge Mateo and a sacrifice fly by Mountcastle. Henderson's solo homer in the fifth made it 10-5.