HOUSTON — While ace Justin Verlander worked six shutout innings and closer Ryan Pressly retired the side in order in the top of the ninth, the hold provided by reliever Bryan Abreu proved as critical as any pitching effort received by the Houston Astros in their 6-4 victory over the Minnesota Twins in Game 1 of this American League Division Series on Saturday.

After Minnesota struck for four runs off Hector Neris in the seventh inning, Abreu bridged the gap to Pressly by working around a pair of doubles and recording three strikeouts over 1 1/3 innings. His handiwork was vital in helping the Astros take a 1-0 series lead with Game 2 set for Sunday.

“Yeah, the guy is confident,” Astros manager Dusty Baker said of Abreu. “His confidence is high. He’s throwing strikes. He’s using his fastball and his slider, and he’s been great.”

Left-hander Framber Valdez (12-11, 3.45 ERA in regular season) is the scheduled Game 2 starter for the Astros. He is 7-2 with a 3.41 ERA over 13 career postseason appearances (12 starts).

Valdez earned the victory in Game 6 of the 2022 World Series after limiting the Philadelphia Phillies to one run on two hits and two walks with nine strikeouts over six innings and has won three consecutive postseason starts.

Valdez is 3-1 with a 2.37 ERA over seven career appearances (four starts) against the Twins. In his lone postseason appearance against Minnesota, Valdez twirled five scoreless innings of relief in Game 1 of the 2020 AL wild-card series while earning a 4-1 road victory.

Right-hander Pablo Lopez (11-8, 3.66) will start Game 2 as the Twins attempt to square the best-of-five series at a game apiece.

In his second career postseason start on Tuesday — and first since Game 2 of the 2020 National League Division Series for the Miami Marlins against the Atlanta Braves — Lopez earned a 3-1 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 1 of that AL wild-card series. He surrendered one run on five hits and two walks with three strikeouts over 5 2/3 innings.

Lopez faced Houston once previously while he was with the Marlins. He allowed two runs on six hits and two walks with five strikeouts over 4 1/3 innings while not factoring into the decision of a 7-4 victory on June 10, 2022.

That Lopez delivered in a manner the Twins sorely needed against Toronto allows Minnesota manager Rocco Baldelli to approach Game 2 with a level of calm. Reliability is a welcome asset.

“… Every time you hand him the ball, you feel very confident,” Baldelli said. “The guys around him feel confident. He gives you a great chance to win a ballgame every time. He’s ultra-competitive, and it rubs off on everyone.”

Lopez added: “Like it happens in the regular season when you’re going against one of the aces on the other teams, it’s all about there might not be a lot of runs, so your job becomes extra trying to prevent runs and making good pitches early, get ahead, stay ahead, and then try to have quick innings because that might be what’s going to happen on the other side of it.”

–MK Bower, Field Level Media

Left-hander Jim Poole, who pitched for eight teams in the majors but is perhaps best known for allowing a World Series-clinching home run, died Friday of ALS complications, according to his alma mater, Georgia Tech. He was 57.

Poole, who made all 431 of his appearances as a reliever, was diagnosed with the disease in 2021.

He was 22-12 with a 4.31 ERA and four saves in 11 seasons covering 363 innings.

In Game 6 of the 1995 World Series, while pitching for Cleveland, the then-Indians trailed the Atlanta Braves 3-2 in the best-of-seven series.

Poole entered in relief of Cleveland starter Dennis Martinez in a scoreless game with runners on first and second and two outs in the bottom of the fifth. He struck out Fred McGriff to end the threat.

With the game still 0-0 going to the bottom of the sixth, however, Atlanta’s David Justice led off the inning with a homer for what proved to be the only run of the game. Poole also played for the Cleveland team that reached the 1998 American League Championship Series.

–Field Level Media

Seven Philadelphia Phillies pitchers came into Atlanta and silenced the Braves on Saturday night.

Now the Phillies and Braves are in familiar positions in the National League Division Series.

A septuple of pitchers combined on a five-hit shutout for the visiting Phillies, who beat the Braves 3-0 in Game 1 of the NLDS.

“Good starting pitching, great bullpen, good defense, timely hitting as well,” Phillies first baseman Bryce Harper told NBC Philadelphia after he went 2-for-2 with a homer and two walks. “That’s a really, really good team over there, so to be able to come in here and steal one from them — hopefully go right back at them on Monday and get another one.”

Game 2 of the best-of-five set is scheduled for Monday night in Atlanta. Zack Wheeler (1-0, 1.35 ERA postseason; 13-6, 3.61 regular season) is slated to start for the Phillies against Max Fried (0-0, 0.00 postseason; 8-1, 2.55 regular season), who made just 14 starts this season because of a forearm injury and a blister.

The series is a rematch of an NLDS from last season, when the Phillies beat the Braves in four games on their way to reaching the World Series.

The Phillies won Game 1 last season, 7-6. They took a decidedly different approach than the one they used on Saturday, when Philadelphia handed the Braves their first home shutout this season.

The Braves are the third team to be shut out in their playoff opener after leading the majors in runs in the regular season and the first since the 2001 Seattle Mariners.

“We’ve got to regroup and come back and win Monday night,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “We’ve just got to look forward to the next game.”

Phillies starter Ranger Suarez allowed one hit and one walk while striking out four over 3 2/3 innings before exiting after Ozzie Albies reached on a fielder’s choice. Jeff Hoffman (1-0) walked Marcell Ozuna before striking out Michael Harris II — the only out Hoffman recorded.

“You hate to take a guy out — he’s pitching well, he knows he’s pitching well,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. “But because of the off-days, it was Hoffman after Suarez no matter what. Just wanted to find the right spot for him.”

The Braves put runners on against each of the next four Philadelphia pitchers but finished the game 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position and left seven men on base.

Atlanta mounted its biggest threat in the eighth, when Ronald Acuna Jr. drew a leadoff walk against Orion Kerkering and Austin Riley greeted Matt Strahm with a single. Acuna moved up a base on Matt Olson’s flyout to the warning track in center field before Trea Turner made a diving stop of Albies’ grounder to begin a 6-4-3 double play.

“Obviously there was a bunch of big outs — probably none bigger than Ozzie’s that Turner dove and turned the double play,” Snitker said. “He hit that ball really well. It’s one of those things that happen sometimes. The pitching shut us down.”

Craig Kimbrel notched the save with a perfect ninth.

Bryson Stott had an RBI single in the fourth and Harper homered in the sixth for the Phillies, who added an insurance run in the eighth when Turner trotted home after Sean Murphy was called for catcher’s interference with J.T. Realmuto at the plate.

Turner and Harper combined for three steals in the eighth. The Phillies finished with five steals, a franchise record for a postseason game.

Braves starter Spencer Strider (0-1) allowed two runs (one earned) on five hits and two walks while striking out eight over seven innings.

–Field Level Media

BALTIMORE — The Texas Rangers will look to take a stranglehold on their American League Divisional Series when they meet the Baltimore Orioles for Game 2 on Sunday.

Texas won the opener of the best-of-five series 3-2 over top-seeded Baltimore on Saturday for their third straight win in the postseason, all of them away from home.

“It’s always nice to play well on the road,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said. “And we knew we had to do this going to Tampa and coming here facing a really tough ball club. Got work to do, but guys just responded so well after that series (last weekend) in Seattle.”

Texas sends out left-hander Jordan Montgomery (1-0, 0.00 ERA postseason) against rookie right-hander Grayson Rodriguez (7-4, 4.35 regular season) in Game 2 on Sunday.

Montgomery, acquired at the trade deadline from the last-place St. Louis Cardinals, went 2-0 with a 0.67 ERA over his final four starts, allowing one run or less in each for a team fighting for a playoff spot.

The seven-year veteran opened the playoffs for the Rangers on Tuesday and threw seven shutout innings against Tampa Bay. He gave up six hits, struck out five and didn’t walk a batter.

Montgomery is 3-1 with a 3.04 ERA in 16 career starts against the Orioles.

The Rangers opted to leave veteran right-hander Max Scherzer off the ALDS roster. Scherzer (strained teres major muscle in his right shoulder) threw a two-inning simulated game on Friday. Bochy said he could be added to the roster if there is an injury.

Rodriguez’s season was a tale of two parts. After going 2-2 with a 7.35 ERA over his first 10 starts, he was sent down to Triple-A Norfolk, where he worked on his fastball command. After his return in mid-July, he went 5-2 with a 2.58 ERA in 13 starts and earned the Game 2 assignment.

“He’s been a completely different pitcher since he came back up,” teammate Austin Hays said Saturday. “You can see the hunger in his eyes. There’s no fear, a ton of confidence in every one of his pitches.”

Rodriguez made his major league debut against the Rangers on April 5, allowing two runs on four hits in five innings of a no-decision.

In Game 1, the Rangers got a homer from Josh Jung and double and two walks from fellow rookie Evan Carter as six pitchers combined on a five-hitter.

Carter has reached base in 10 of 12 plate appearances in the postseason. Moved up to No. 5 in the batting order, he doubled home the first run Saturday.

“Hitting doesn’t change for me,” Carter said. “But the only thing I guess the mindset was, my change, was situationally, there might be more runners on base in front of me, you might be more in an RBI situation. So that showed up for me today and that was pretty cool.”

Anthony Santander homered, singled and walked for the Orioles, scoring both of their runs.

Gunnar Henderson singled leading off the ninth but was thrown out trying to steal second and now the Orioles look to avoid traveling to Texas down 2-0.

“We respond fine,” Baltimore manager Brandon Hyde said. “In the last week or so of the regular season, we had a tough time scoring early. And it takes a lot of pressure off the people on the mound if we get a few runs across early in the game.”

–Harvey Valentine, Field Level Media