The Houston Astros lost the first two games of the American League Championship Series at home.
However, with their backs against the wall in a pivotal Game 3, they responded and earned a hard-fought win in Arlington.
Texas still leads the best-of-seven series, 2-1, but it’s much, much more promising than having fallen into an 0-3 hole.
Cristian Javier, a notable postseason performer through the years, was behind Houston’s win on Wednesday.
Once again, he was highly competitive and pitched a very solid game to keep his team in the game.
This time, unlike Games 1 and 2, the Astros offense showed up to the ballpark.
Javier, meanwhile, has been excellent during the whole 2023 postseason, which is kind of surprising given his 4.56 regular-season ERA.
This year, he has taken the ball for two starts: one in the Division Series against the Minnesota Twins, and the one he made on Wednesday vs. the Texas Rangers.
Combining the two, he has pitched 10.2 innings and allowed just two earned runs.
Now, if we add up the two starts he made in the 2022 postseason, we find an extremely tough pitcher to hit.
Cristian Javier has only allowed 5 hits in 4 postseason starts pic.twitter.com/OqoeXLIVf4
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) October 19, 2023
With just five hits conceded in four career postseason starts, he has been one of the Astros’ most important pieces in recent years.
He has been playing postseason baseball since 2020, and has surrendered an insane 18 hits in 43.1 innings.
His 2.08 ERA and 0.92 WHIP in the playoffs tell the story of one of the most dominant pitchers in tough spots.
He is not named Justin Verlander, Zack Wheeler, or Max Scherzer, but Javier might be best choice in the league to start a playoff game at this point.
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