Jose Altuve Leads Astros to Game 1 Win at Royals; Rangers Down Toronto in ALDS

Players of the Day for Thursday, October 8, 2015

American League

Altus Leads Astros

The ALDS opened Thursday with a pair of games in which home field provided no advantage. In the early game, the Texas Rangers took care of Toronto and David Price, getting five runs in seven innings off the Blue Jay ace for a 5-3 win.

The evening match-up of Houston at Kansas City has a similar result as the visitors took Game 1, 5-2, as Astros' leadoff hitter, Jose Altuve ignited Houston, going 3-for-5, scoring once and driving in another run. His single to start the game resulted in a 1-0 lead when Colby Rasmus delivered him from third on a ground out, then, in the second inning, Altuve drove in a run with a scratch single to right for a 3-0 lead.

Kendrys Morales socked a pair of solo homers to get the score to 3-2, but solo homers by Springer and Rasmus, in the fifth and eighth, respectively, put the game away as the Houston relief corps kept the Royals in check the final three innings.

Game two of the Rangers-Blue Jay series is scheduled for Friday at 12:45 pm ET; the series in KC continues at 3:45 pm ET.

National League

There were no National League games on Thursday. The NLDS begins Friday with the Chicago Cubs at St.Louis Cardinals at 6:45 PM ET and the Mets at Dodgers at 9:45 pm ET.