Major League Baseball

Astros Sting Rays, Force Game 7

Updated Oct. 16, 2020 11:43 p.m. ET

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There will be a Game 7 in the ALCS!

After trailing 3-0, the Astros have caught fire over the last three games to tie the series and force a win or go home game to advance to the World Series on Saturday with a 7-4 victory.

Here are 3 takeaways from Game 6 of this ALCS matchup.

1. Framber Valdez brings his A-game

The Rays struggled to get on base all night against the Astros, and a big reason why was the pitching performance from Astros starter Framber Valdez.

Valdez was given the ball in the biggest start of his career and delivered with a performance that has only been seen by one other pitcher in Astros history: 2019 Cy Young award winner Gerrit Cole.

Across 12 innings against the Rays this series, Valdez has only allowed three earned runs while striking out 17 batters.

2. Top o' the lineup

George Springer, José Altuve, and Carlos Correa have played in their fair share of big playoff games over the last three years with the Astros.

And in their biggest game of this season, the heart of this Astros team showed up when needed to carry them to a Game 7.

Those three, along with Michael Brantley, make up the top of the Astros order, which was responsible for eight hits and five of the seven runs batted in by the Astros.

For Altuve in particular, his 2-for-3 hitting performance with an RBI just added to torrid hitting he has put on display in this ALCS.

Now, thanks largely to Houston's hot bats, the Astros have become just the second team in MLB history to come back from a 3-0 deficit in the postseason – and you probably remember the first team to do it and what happened to them.

If these four can produce at a similar rate in Game 7, the Astros have to feel confident about their chances.

3. Did Kevin Cash pull Blake Snell too soon?

The Rays were one win away from the World Series with the 2018 Cy Young award winner, Blake Snell, taking the mound for Game 6.

But there will be questions about whether Rays manager Kevin Cash pulled him too soon in the top of the fifth inning.

Snell himself even questioned the decision as it happened.

In the fifth inning with two runners on base and no outs, Cash decided to pull Snell which led to the Astros scoring four runs immediately after he was pulled.

Snell's final line was four innings pitched, allowing two earned runs with four strikeouts on 82 pitches.

But questions will remain about how much Snell had left in the tank before being abruptly pulled.

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