Jung's 2-HR night not enough to save Rangers' win streak

ARLINGTON -- Even though the Rangers arrived at Globe Life Field riding a seven-game postseason win streak, there were a lot of question marks going into Game 3 of the American League Championship Series on Wednesday night.

What could the Rangers get out of Max Scherzer in his first start off the injured list? How would they perform against an Astros team that has dominated on the road this season -- and also succeeded at Globe Life Field for the entirety of the ballpark’s short existence?

All of those questions were answered relatively early as Scherzer gave up five runs on five hits and one walk in four innings and the offense was shut down by Cristian Javier most of the night.

The Rangers would ultimately fall, 8-5, to the Astros, but it wasn't for lack of effort.

Rookie third baseman Josh Jung single-handedly provided most of the offense with a pair of two-run homers to keep the Rangers within striking distance. It was the first two-homer game in the postseason for Texas since the 2011 ALCS, when Nelson Cruz did it in Game 2 against the Tigers (including one off Scherzer).

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“I feel good,” Jung said. “I’m just trying to have quality at-bats every time I step in the box. They’ve got a really good staff, and Javier threw a heck of a game tonight. You're not gonna go out there and score seven runs every game. This was probably our first little scuffle. But that’s just baseball.”

It was the 11th multi-homer game by a rookie in MLB postseason history, though Minnesota’s Royce Lewis accomplished the feat in this year’s AL Wild Card Series against the Blue Jays. Jung’s seven extra-base hits are tied for most by a rookie in his first eight career postseason games with Jeremy Peña and Evan Longoria.

Despite fighting back late in the game, the Rangers’ offense was stifled for much of the night. Texas entered the bottom of the fifth inning with no hits, and by the end of the night only two runners had even reached scoring position.

Every time the Rangers looked like they could chip away at the lead, the Astros slammed the door, whether it was with bullpen arms stopping the bleeding or the relentless offense tacking on more runs each inning.

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“[Jung] did a great job of getting us back in the game a couple of times,” Bochy said. “We weren't doing much with Javier. We were fighting to get back in it, and just got nicked a couple of times there with the bullpen and kept it a little bit out of reach. But I loved the way they battled tonight.”

The Rangers now head to Game 4 with a modified bullpen day on the horizon Thursday.

Andrew Heaney will get his second start of the postseason, but the lefty did not throw a full workload in his first appearance in Game 1 of the ALDS at Baltimore after spending much of September in the bullpen. The Rangers ended up piggybacking Heaney and right-hander Dane Dunning, who combined for 5 2/3 innings and allowed one run in the 3-2 win.

Wednesday night was the first time this postseason that the Rangers didn’t use José Leclerc, Aroldis Chapman or Josh Sborz out of the bullpen, leaving the high-leverage trio available behind Heaney and Dunning for Game 4 with an extra day of rest.

In all best-of-seven postseason series, teams behind 2-1 after three games have gone on to win the series 44 of 148 times (30%). Teams that have won Game 3 after trailing 2-0 have come back to take the series 13 of 50 times (26%).

The Rangers still have two more games at home in the ALCS, but the Astros’ track record in this ballpark might prevent any feelings of overconfidence. The last time the two clubs faced off in Arlington, Houston essentially manhandled Texas with 50 hits and 16 home runs. The Astros ultimately outscored the Rangers 39-10 in the three-game sweep from Sept. 4-6.

That sweep was amid one of the worst stretches for the season for Texas, which endured multiple losing streaks of four or more games at the end of August and into September.

What do the Rangers need to do to prevent this one loss from spiraling like that last matchup against the Astros?

“Win tomorrow,” Scherzer said.