Games 3 in both ALDS resulted with the Houston Astros beating the Kansas City Royals 4-2 to take a 2-1 lead and get one step closer to eliminating the favorites, while the Toronto Blue Jays crushed the Texas Rangers 5-1, avoiding elimination, at least for a short while, although momentum is now on their side.

Houston Astros Beat Kansas City Royals 4-2, Lead Series 2-1

The Astros are one win away from going to the ALCS following a fantastic pitching performance from Dallas Keuchel, who struck out 7 batters in 7 innings, gave up five hits and one run, followed by Tony Sipp with another solid performance and the second save of the postseason Luke Gregerson, although him giving up a home run in the ninth inning did rattle things for a very short while, although the Royals didn’t’ capitalize.

The Royals started out with a 4th inning home run by Lorenzo Cain and finished the game with another homer, this time by Alex Gordon. In between though not a lot happened, at least not in their favor. The Astros scored in the 5th inning, sixth and 7th, taking out Edinson Volquez before the end of the sixth, but the reliable Danny Duffy couldn’t slow things down as well, as last year’s almost World Series champions are almost out of the playoffs. One game away.

For the Astros, the runs came from a rare Jason Castro 2-RBI single, followed by an RBI single from Carlos Gomez and capped off by a home run hit by Chris Carter, who was 3-for-3 on the day. The Royals finished with 0-for-7 with runners in scoring positions, including big whiffs by Gordon and Eric Hosmer, both left swinging twice instead of driving home runs.

Toronto Blue Jays win 5-1 @ Texas Rangers, Rangers Still Lead Series 2-1

The Blue Jays avoid elimination with some big hitting and a very good day on the mound from Marco Estrada, who had a long list of little helpers to carry the win home. Martin Perez, who gave up four runs in five innings, caused enough irreparable damage during his stint, while the Rangers lineup could get only five hits all game long, most of the time unable to get runners into scoring positions until it was way too late to make a difference.

Troy Tulowitzki got a home run in and also one of his walks results in another run with the bases loaded. Dioner Navarro scored after Ryan Goins grounded into a double play, but it was Tulowitzki’s three-run homer that made the difference in the game, taking the life out of the Rangers in front of 50,941 packing the stadium.

This was the first postseason victory for the Blue Jays since winning the World Series in 1993, and Toronto is counting a lot on Tulowitzki to show he’s back from an injury that has left him rattled even after coming back from his 19-game absence.