Playoff roundup: Astros get handed loss and Braves get shut out

The Royals series may be better than people thought

With the first day of the postseason behind us, there are four series that are now being played and each of is more exciting than the last.

Let’s see what happened around the league in the first postseason edition of Playoff Roundup.

Houston Astros: 1, Detroit Tigers: 3 (Det 1-0)

In the first playoff game of the season, the Astros and Tigers kicked off everything with a thrill of a game. Every Astros fan knew that Terik Skubal was going to go to work, but not many expected the damage he did.

The first inning went smoothly for both Skubal and Framber, both going 1-2-3, but the second inning is where Detroit got all their runs. It started with a one-out single, followed by a walk to put two on. After another out, former Astros’ minor leaguer Jake Rogers stepped up.

He started the scoring off with a line drive single into center to score the first run. That was followed by two more RBI-singles from Trey Sweeney and Matt Vierling to put the Tigers ahead 3-0.

Skubal diced up the Astros lineup while he was pitching, not getting taken out of the game till after his sixth inning of work. He finished with four hits, one walk, six strikeouts and zero runs. The ‘Stros couldn’t put anything together till he was off the mound.

On the other side, the Astros bullpen was solid, going 4 1/3 innings of shutout ball.

The Astros finally got something going in the bottom of the ninth. Three base hits to start the inning from Yordan, Bregman and Yainer got the Astros their first run and left men on first and second with no outs. A sac bunt moved the runners over to second and third and a two-out walk loaded the bases.

That was when Jason Heyward came up to bat, pinch-hitting for Jake Meyers, and on a 2-2 count, he laced a ball directly at the Tigers’ first baseman, who made the snag and secured the 3-1 win.

Kansas City Royals: 1, Baltimore Orioles: 0 (KC 1-0)

In a game between two playoff teams, there was much less offense than to be expected. Both starting pitchers shoved, going at least six innings each and giving up five or less hits.

The game started with O’s starter Corbin Burns taking the mound and getting through the first of his eight innings. He gave up a hit in that first inning, but still sat the Royals down. The bottom half was when Royals starter Cole Ragans took the mound for his first of six innings.

The game went on with very little offence and both starters dominating, till the top of the sixth. A one-out walk and stolen base put a man on second and after a groundout moved him to third, it brought up Bobby Witt Jr.

With two gone, he roped a ball through the infield to score a run and put the Royals up 1-0. Following this run, Ragans went one inning before leaving it up to his pen, who dominated.

The Royals pen went three innings of one hit ball, holding the O’s to no runs and coming away with the 1-0 win. The Royals need one more win to move on to playing the New York Yankees in the ALDS.

Other playoff games

New York Mets: 8, Milwaukee Brewers: 4 (NYM 1-0)

In a game that was all offence, the Mets continued what they started in the regular season and smacked their way to a win. They tallied seven hits to go along with their eight runs and struck out eight times. The Mets go into the playoffs on the last day of the season and are now starting their incredible run, which starts in Milwaukee. If they can win one more game, they will have themselves a date with the second seeded Phillies in Philadelphia.

San Diego Padres: 4, Atlanta Braves: 0 (SD 1-0)

The Padres got the scoring started right away and didn’t look back. After Fernando Tatis Jr. smacked a massive two-run shot to kick off the game, the Padres were in the driver seat. It also helped that their starter Michael King went seven innings of shutout ball with 12 strikeouts. The Padres are a deep team who are looking to make a deep run in the postseason so long as they get past Atlanta.