Jubilant Texas Rangers fans celebrate as team claims commanding 2-0 ALCS lead vs. Houston Astros: "Sweep those cheaters"

It was a game filled with emotion and uncertainty, but the Texas Rangers held on to remain undefeated in the 2023 postseason. While their lead looked very shaky at certain points of the game, six wins now stand between manager Bruce Bochy's club and the World Series.

Despite feeling the full wrath of the Astros' firepower, the Texas Rangers were able to rest on an early lead to hang on to a 5-4 win. As such, the Rangers have made MLB history by going 7-0 in their oustanding postseason run.

The Rangers' offense kicked off in the first inning. A throwing error by Astros ace Framber Valdez allowed Marcus Semien to score the first run of the game for the Rangers. A pair of singles later, and Valdez and the Astros suddenly found themselves down by a score of 4-0 with only one out in the game.

"Stole both on the road. #GoAndTakeIt" - Texas Rangers

In the bottom of the second inning, the Astros showed life. Yordan Alvarez pumped his league-best fifth home run of the postseason off of Nathan Eovaldi, cutting the Rangers' lead to 4-1.

However, the following inning saw a solo home run from Rangers catcher Jonah Heim add another run to make it 5-1 for the Rangers. At this point, many Texas fans believed that it would be an easy ride until the end of the game. Unfortunately for them, that hypothesis would be incorrect.

After third baseman Alex Bregman got a run back for the Houston Astros on account of a solo homer, outfielder Michael Brantley hit an RBI double to cut the lead to 5-3. Then, Alvarez once again came up to face countryman Aroldis Chapman, who has been traded to the Texas Rangers at the August trade deadline by the Kansas City Royals.

On the first pitch that he saw, Alvarez clobbered a Chapman fastball deep to left field. Now 5-4, Houston Astros fans believed they had a shot at putting an end to the Rangers' undefeated streak, and the fans at Minute Maid Park echoed that sentiment with their defeaning enthusiasm.

But despite the raucous cheering, the Astros could not find a way to get it done. Texas Rangers closer Jose LeClerc registered a four-out save and Houston went down 5-4, and will take a 2-0 series defecit to Globe Life Field for Game 2.

The Texas Rangers are beginning to look unstoppable

Faced with the uncompromising firepower of the Astros batting order, the Rangers were able to keep them at bay, and come out on top. Despite not having made the playoffs since 2016, the Rangers now seem poised for a World Series berth. The team will need to watch the Arizona Diamondbacks and Philadelphia Phillies closely as they await to see who they will likely face.