Rangers welcome rotation reset as focus shifts to best-of-three

ARLINGTON -- It’s time to flip the page, and the Rangers have got just the guys to do it.

Very little went Texas’ way in Thursday’s 10-3 loss to the Astros in Game 4 of the American League Championship Series. The home team sent lefty Andrew Heaney to the Globe Life Field mound hoping for a solid, if short, start in what was virtually a bullpen day.

Heaney only lasted two-thirds of an inning, allowing three runs before being replaced by Dane Dunning in a loss that tied the ALCS at two apiece. Pitching has been the Rangers’ largest issue in these home games, but with Jordan Montgomery and Nathan Eovaldi in line to start the next two contests, there’s plenty of reason to feel optimistic.

“I always like my chances with this club,” manager Bruce Bochy said after Game 4. “They’ve battled all year. We’re playing a good team -- nobody thought it was going to be easy. … [The Astros] have played very well in this ballpark. We need to change that, we know it. But it’s all going to be us pitching better and scoring some runs.”

The latter part of that equation hasn’t been a problem. Rangers hitters have largely done their job getting on base and coming through with timely hits in October. But the pitching struggles were evident when Game 3 starter Max Scherzer worked through some rust after a month-long layoff and Heaney had a three-run deficit by the time he got the first out of the ballgame.

Dunning escaped that first-inning jam and kept the Astros off the scoreboard for the next two frames, allowing the offense to tie the game at 3-3. But the right-hander was charged with three runs in the fourth, all three of them coming after he had already been replaced by Cody Bradford, who allowed a sac fly and a three-run homer.

“It was evident that Andrew was a little bit off,” said Bochy. “[With] where they were in the order, [I was] trying to keep it where it was, at three runs -- which Dane did. Dane worked hard, though. A lot of pitches. … But he did a good job there. Just a couple of walks there got him at the end. Those came back to haunt us.”

The offense, meanwhile, didn’t have another rally in store, and the Rangers’ focus quickly shifted to Friday. Montgomery’s return to the mound for Game 5 -- with Eovaldi in line to follow in Game 6 -- should put them in a good position.

Montgomery dominated the Astros in Game 1 of the ALCS, pitching 6 1/3 scoreless innings with six strikeouts -- including three against the red-hot Yordan Alvarez – en route to a win at Minute Maid Park. He will once again square off with Justin Verlander, but that didn’t intimidate him the first time.

“I’m pretty confident every time I go out there,” Montgomery said on Thursday. “Moving good, throwing well. But it's the playoffs. If you're not excited to go out there and just compete, then something's wrong.”

That excitement is paired with preparation. Montgomery understands that, at this point, he can’t coast on what’s worked in the past.

“Probably going to have to do something different,” said Montgomery. “I think the Astros are such a good team and such a good lineup that it's hard to get them out the same way. So we'll kind of just see how the game goes.”

Eovaldi hasn’t been announced as the starter for Game 6 yet, but given the way he pitched in Houston, it’s safe to project that he will take the ball for Texas when the series shifts back to Minute Maid Park. The right-hander followed up Montgomery’s Game 1 brilliance with a gem of his own in Houston, when he struck out nine batters in six innings of three-run ball.

If the series goes to seven games, Scherzer may be slated to start the decisive Game 7. The veteran starter says his arm feels healthy, and Bochy expects things to “only get better with him” moving forward.

Still, Montgomery and Eovaldi remain this team’s most trusted arms, anchors for a pitching staff riddled with injuries and inconsistencies.

So is it fair to say that the Rangers will go as far as their two trusted arms will take them this October?

“I don't know if that's fair, because you need other pitchers to come through for you,” said Bochy. “So that's really not fair. They've done a great job, but there's other games you have to win. And whether it's the bullpen or another starter, that's what it's going to take.

“But those guys have certainly done their job.”