Manuel Margot Powers Rays to 2-0 ALCS Lead over Carlos Correa, Astros

After forcing the Houston Astros to fall behind in the series for the first time this postseason with their Sunday night Game 1 victory, the Tampa Bay Rays deepened the divide with a 4-2 win in Game 2 on Monday.

Manuel Margot's 406-foot, three-run home run in the first inning was all the Rays needed to improve to 2-0 in the best-of-seven series, and his flashy over-the-wall catch helped hold the Astros scoreless until Carlos Correa homered in top of the sixth inning to inch Houston closer—to no avail. 

A day after adding the game-winning RBI, Mike Zunino turned a high fastball from Lance McCullers Jr. into his third home run of the postseason, adding an insurance run in the bottom of the seventh. 

The Astros managed to load the bases with no outs in their top of the ninth, but Brandon Lowe turned a double play as Yuli Gurriel crossed the plate to give the Astros a two-run deficit. Nick Anderson walked both Jose Altuve and Michael Brantley in eight pitches. With the bases loaded and the pressure on, Kevin Kiermaier ended the day with a catch on a deep ball from Alex Bregman to secure the win. 

For the winless Astros, who have struggled in this series after sweeping the Minnesota Twins and ousting the Oakland A's, McCullers was a bright spot. After a rocky outing in Game 1 of the ALDS, where he allowed five runs (three of which were home runs) to the Oakland Athletics in four innings, he gave up just four hits and one earned run while fanning 11 with no walks through seven innings Monday. Through his first two runs through the Rays' order, he needed just 55 pitches.  

Notable Performers

• Manuel Margot, OF, Rays: 1-for-3, HR, 3 RBI
• Charlie Morton, RHP, Rays: 5.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 5 SO, 1 BB
• Lance McCullers Jr., RHP, Astros: 7.0 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 1 ER, 11 K, 0 BB
• Yuli Gurriel, 1B, Astros: 2-for-3, 1 R 

Tough Day for Altuve

In addition to a quiet day at the plate, where he went 1-for-4, Jose Altuve's errors in the field cost the Astros their first win of the series. His first-inning struggle resulted in the Rays' early runs, when Ji-Man Choi reached on his throwing error before Margot's home run.

But it didn't stop there for Altuve, who also allowed Lowe to reach in the bottom of the third inning on another throwing error. Luckily for him, McCullers continued his strong outing on the mound to strand the Tampa Bay baserunners.

Later, Correa took over for Altuve when the Astros used the shift against Lowe, and again against Choi. 

Altuve had only been credited with one fielding error this postseason after collecting four in the 2020 regular season. Last year, he only had one error in the postseason, which was committed in Game 4 of the 2019 World Series, when the Astros defeated the eventual champion Washington Nationals 8-1 to tie the series. Altuve hasn't posted two throwing errors in the same game since July 19, 2019.

Morton Continues Strong Postseason Play

Rays righthander Charlie Morton has been stellar through his last four postseason starts with Tampa, posting a 4-0 record. Heading into Monday, his postseason ERA in Tampa was just 1.20. 

It might have helped that he already had experience against the Astros, with one win coming against Houston in Game 3 of the 2019 ALDS. Morton, who was an All-Star for the first time in his career when he played for Houston in 2018, gave up one run and struck out nine in five innings against his old team in that start.

On Monday, Morton, who was 2-2 this season through 38 innings in nine starts (43 hits, 20 earned runs, 4.74 ERA), tossed five innings of scoreless ball with five strikeouts and as many hits. 

What's Next? 

The Rays will look to continue their domination against the 2017 World Series champions in Game 3, which is scheduled for 8:40 p.m. ET on Tuesday. Tampa has yet to announce its starter, while Houston will give righthander Jose Urquidy the nod on the hill.