Adolis Garcia gets back at Astros, silences Minute Maid Park with Game 6 grand slam

Texas Rangers outfielder Adolis Garcia was already an unpopular man in Houston, but he turned himself into Public Enemy No. 1 in Game 5 of the ALCS, not taking kindly to being plunked by Astros reliever Bryan Abreu and nearly touching off a benches-clearing brawl. With the series heading back to Space City for Game 6 on Sunday, the crowd at Minute Maid Park came prepared, hounding Garcia from pretty much the moment he stepped on the field.

And for the first eight innings, Garcia gave them plenty to cheer about, striking out in increasingly wild fashion in each of his first four at-bats. As a wise man once said, however, it’s not how you start — it’s how you finish. And with the bases loaded and the Rangers looking to add some insurance onto their 5-2 lead in the top of the ninth, Garcia had a chance to finish with a bang. He didn’t miss it:

All night long, Houston had been pumping fastballs up and out of the zone to Garcia and letting him swing through them. The final fastball he saw from Ryne Stanek, though, caught way too much of the plate — and got out to left field in a hurry. Unlike his dramatic go-ahead homer in Game 5, Garcia didn’t punctuate things with a bat spike, instead opting to let the sound of Astros fans clearing the park to do most of the talking.

As for who will get the last laugh, that remains to be seen: Game 7 between the Rangers and Astros is set for 8:03 p.m. ET on Monday night, with Max Scherzer going against Cristian Javier.