The Texas Rangers needed three outs to take Game 5 from the Houston Astros. They had a 4-2 lead going into the top of the ninth. They were so close to taking a 3-2 lead in the series.
But almost only counts in horsehoes and hand grenades. And the Astros had other ideas, riding a three-run, ninth-inning home run from Jose Altuve to win Game 5 and send the series back to Houston needing one win to get to the World Series.
The Rangers have to get their heads right before Game 6 on Sunday. In the meantime, we can play the blame game.
3. Adolis Garcia
Ok, before you get too worked up. Yes, the Rangers were only in the position to win the game because of Adolis Garcia. He hit the go-ahead home run that really should have carried Texas to victory. So if he's at fault, it's only for a sliver of the blame to go around.
Still, the MLB postseason is partly about production and partly about composure. Garcia had the first part of that equation but not the second.
Bryan Abreu hit Garcia with a fastball on his next at-bat after the big homer. Garcia seemed to think it was on purpose. His reaction cleared the benches and resulted in his ejection, along with ejections for Abreu and Astros manager Dusty Baker.
If Abreu stupidly chose to intentionally throw at Garcia for his home run celebration, the right fielder could have taken the gifted base and kept helping his team win. Instead, he lashed out and got himself ejected, removing his bat from the lineup when the Rangers needed him late in the game.
The kerfuffle also may have had a negative impact on Rangers closer Jose Leclerc, who was essentially put on ice as the bottom of the eighth stretched on longer than it should have.
Fine margins determine outcomes this deep in the postseason. Garcia gave and took away in Game 5.
2. Marcus Semien and Corey Seager
In the biggest game of the postseason so far, the Rangers needed their two best hitters to put them over the top. We're looking at you, Marcus Semien and Corey Seager.
Going 1-of-10 combined just doesn't cut it.
Semien and Seager were both 0-for-2 with runners in scoring position. They both got opportunities to be the heroes in the bottom of the ninth and narrowly came up short.
Maybe it was just one of those days on Friday, but Semien had one hit in the three games at Globe Life Field. Seager had three.
Semien also committed an error, though he made up for that later with a great defensive play in the sixth inning.
Again, this is the part of the postseason when the little things make the difference between winning and losing. When you're pursuing a spot in the World Series, you need your star hitters to come up big with their bats. By no means do Semien and Seager bear the greatest share of the blame but they didn't get the job done.
1. Jose Leclerc
Yeah, there was no other option. The brunt of the blame for Friday night's debacle lays with the man who blew the save in the biggest game of the season so far.
Jose Leclerc took the mound in the top of the eight inning with a 4-2 lead and a four-out save opportunity. He got the first out he needed, but when he returned to the mound in the ninth, everything went wrong.
Leclerc melted down in the top of the ninth. He put the first two batters he faced on base then gave Jose Altuve the pitch he needed to hit the third ninth-inning-or-later home run in his legendary postseason career.
The closer was key in the Rangers getting to the ALCS and winning their first seven games of the postseason. He had the longest streak of closed out games to begin a postseason, per ESPN Stats & Info. Unfortunately, a blown save of this magnitude could undo all that hard work.
Leclerc and the Rangers will now head back to Houston to see if they can keep the streak of road winners in the series alive. They're playing elimination baseball from here on out.