MINNEAPOLIS — José Abreu homered for the third time in two games, a two-run rocket in the fourth inning that launched the Houston Astros to their seventh straight AL Championship Series appearance with a 3-2 win that eliminated the Minnesota Twins in Game 4 of their AL Division Series on Wednesday night.
José Urquidy gave the playoff-tested Astros another solid postseason start, withstanding home runs by Royce Lewis in the first and Edouard Julien in the sixth to hand the ball to the bullpen.
Hector Neris and Bryan Abreu combined for five strikeouts over 2 1/3 hitless innings. Ryan Pressly — who pitched five-plus years for the Twins before being traded to Houston in 2018 — struck out the side in the ninth.
Pressly froze Max Kepler with a full-count fastball to end it, leaving former Astros star Carlos Correa on deck.
Houston will host in-state rival Texas in Game 1 of the ALCS on Sunday, with three-time AL Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander likely on the mound for the Astros in his 36th career postseason start.
The Astros, who are 56-34 in the playoffs since 2017, hit 10 homers in the series. Abreu had eight RBIs.
Michael Brantley got the Astros started with a solo shot in the second against Twins starter Joe Ryan, who was pulled after that inning in manager Rocco Baldelli's all-out attempt to extend the series.
Caleb Thielbar, the only left-hander on the roster, gave up a leadoff single in the fourth to Yordan Alvarez, a win for the Twins considering he had two doubles and four homers in the series. With one out, Abreu hit a 1-0 fastball to the opposite field for a 3-1 lead.
The rest of the relievers gave the Twins some energy back from the crowd, particularly when Chris Paddack pitched 2 1/3 hitless innings with four strikeouts. But the home team just didn't have enough hits to overcome all those swings and misses.
Lewis gave the Twins another big-moment home run, a line smash into the left-field seats with a similar trajectory to the one he hit in his first postseason at-bat in Game 1 of the Wild Card Series sweep over Toronto.
Bad luck cost them a critical extra run. Julien led off the game with a double, but Jorge Polanco followed with a line drive straight at Jeremy Peña that was sharp enough to give the shortstop time to make a diving tag on Julien for the double play.
Urquidy, much like Game 3 starter Cristian Javier, had an October track record to rely on after a forgettable regular season. The right-hander, who has logged 42 postseason innings and made his seventh start in the playoffs, missed three months with shoulder trouble this year.
GOING DEEP
The Astros hit four homers in their 9-1 win in Game 3, even taking Sonny Gray — the runaway major league leader in fewest home runs allowed per nine innings this year — deep twice.
Their patience, confidence and power made Ryan a vulnerable opponent, considering the right-hander was making his first career postseason start after allowing 24 homers over his last 14 turns. Hall of Fame member Bert Blyleven was the only other Twins pitcher to give up that many long balls in a 14-start span.
Twins batters set the all-time record with 1,654 strikeouts this year, a whopping 413 more whiffs than the Astros had with the third-fewest in baseball.
POWER COMPANY
Lewis in just his sixth game tied Greg Gagne with four postseason home runs for the second-most in Twins history, one behind Hall of Fame member Kirby Puckett. Gagne and Puckett each played 24 postseason games on their way to winning World Series titles in 1987 and 1991.
UP NEXT
AL West champion Houston went 9-4 against the wild-card Rangers this season. Texas led the division for most of the year, but the division title went to the Astros when they beat Arizona on the final day of the regular season and the Rangers lost at Seattle.
Game recaps
Jose Urquidy started for the Astros while Joe Ryan took the mound for the Twins.
First inning
Minnesota 1, Houston 0
Jose Altuve grounded out on the first pitch of the game. Alex Bregman and Alvarez both popped out to end the opening inning.
Edouard Julien led off the home half of the first with a double off the right-center wall. Jorge Polanco lined out to Jeremy Peña, who tagged Julien out for a double play. Royce Lewis homered to left for the first run of the game.
Max Kepler popped out to end the inning.
Second inning
Houston 1, Minnesota 1
Kyle Tucker started the Astros' half of the second inning with a swinging strikeout. José Abreu then fouled out for the second out. Michael Brantley then tied the game with a solo homer to right.
Chas McCormick reached on an infield single but Peña grounded into a fielder's choice to end the inning.
Carlos Correa struck out looking to start the home half of the inning, Ryan Jeffers and Willi Castro went down swinging to end the inning.
Third inning
Houston 1, Minnesota 1
Brock Stewart relieved Ryan to start the inning to face Martín Maldonado, who had a nine-pitch at-bat but eventually struck out looking for the first out of the frame. Altuve grounded out for the second out and Bregman flew out to center to end the inning.
Urquidy struck out Donovan Solano and Michael A. Taylor swinging to start the inning, his fourth and fifth strikeouts of the game. Julien worked a two-out walk and Polanco grounded out to end the inning.
Fourth inning
Houston 3, Minnesota 1
Alvarez opened the Astros' half of the fourth inning to face Caleb Thielbar, who replaced Stewart, and delivered a single to center. Tucker went down swinging and then Abreu hit a two-run homer to give the Astros the lead.
Brantley flew out to right for the second out of the inning. The Twins replaced Thielbar in favor of Chris Paddack to face McCormick, who singled through the left side of the infield. Peña flew out to right field to end the top half of the inning.
Bregman made a great play on a hard-hit grounder by Lewis for the first out of the inning. Kepler popped out and Correa flew out to center to end the inning.
Fifth inning
Houston 3, Minnesota 1
Maldonado, Altuve and Bregman went down in order to begin the frame.
Urquidy got Jeffers to fly out to center for the first out, Castro popped out and Solano struck out swinging to end the inning.
Sixth inning
Houston 3, Minnesota 2
Paddack stayed in the game in the sixth and got Alvarez to strike out swinging. Tucker struck out looking and Abreu fouled out to end the inning.
Urquidy remained in the game and got Taylor to ground out for the first out but Julien homered to left to cut into the Astros' lead.
Polanco flew out for the second out, which proved to be Urquidy's final batter of the game. The Astros brought in Héctor Neris, who walked Lewis. Kepler struck out looking to end the inning.
Seventh inning
Houston 3, Minnesota 2
Griffin Jax relieved Paddack to face Brantley, who struck out swinging, to start the inning. McCormick went down looking for the second out and Peña grounded out to end the inning.
Neris remained in the game to start the seventh inning to face Correa, who lined out to Peña for the first out of frame. Jeffers went down swinging for the second out and then Castro went down swinging to end the inning.
Eighth inning
Houston 3, Minnesota 2
Jhoan Duran relieved Jax to face Maldonado, who grounded out for the first out. Altuve popped out and Bregman flew out to left-center to end the inning.
Bryan Abreu relieved Neris in the eighth inning. Solano struck out swinging, bringing up Byron Buxton who pinch-hit for Taylor. Buxton popped out for the second out and Julien went down swinging to end the inning.
Ninth inning
Houston 3, Minnesota 2
Duran remained in the game to face Alvarez, who went down swinging for the first out. Tucker grounded out and José Abreu singled to left to keep the inning alive. Brantley lined out to end the inning.
Ryan Pressly relieved Bryan Abreu to begin the ninth inning. Polanco and Lewis struck out swinging and Kepler struck out looking to end the game.