2023 Rangers season entered the mystical realm Sunday. Will a Game 7 miracle be next?

HOUSTON – Let me clue you in on some not-so-secret stuff: The Astros are better than the Rangers. Better pitching. Better hitting. The Rangers play better defense, but it’s not like the Astros are ham-handed. If you count Mauricio Dubon twice, and MLB does, they trail the Rangers in Gold Glove finalists by just one.

Houston even has a better trophy case, one housing a couple of Commissioner’s Trophies, including last year’s.

And the difference between the state’s two franchises at Globe Life Field this year?

Don’t get me started.

But here at Minute Maid Park, the Rangers rule.

Forty-eight hours and 250 miles after a soul-crushing loss, the Rangers walloped the Astros, 9-2, as they insist on dragging out this Lone Star ALCS to an improbable seventh game Monday.

Argue against the likelihood of Max Scherzer outdueling Cristian Javier for the World Series invite at your own peril. The Rangers’ season, officially the most pleasant surprise in club history, entered the mystical Sunday.

For example, consider Adolis Garcia’s night. He never heard his name called over the public address system. Too loud. The 42,368 booed him into oblivion, apparently a response to the ruckus he started Friday in Arlington after getting smoked on the triceps by Bryan Abreu. The locals weren’t happy that Abreu got suspended, pending his appeal, but Adolis wasn’t.

The louder the fans got, the worse Adolis looked. Struck out four times. Then, in the ninth, he hit a grand slam, giving him 15 playoff RBIs, second-most ever for a player through his first 11 postseason games.

“If there’s one guy I want to hit in hostile conditions,” Mitch Garver said, “it’s Doli.”

The conditions weren’t as bad as they might have been thanks to Nathan Eovaldi, the winningest pitcher in a single postseason in club history at 4-0. The fact that he might be trusted to save the club’s season, you could figure.

The Rangers’ bullpen coming up aces, and out of order, at that?

Yeah, right.

Or how about this: Garver and Jonah Heim, apparently attached at the hip as they travel around the lineup, suddenly emerging as the Rangers’ best 1-2 punch? Both homered in their new spots at five and six in the order.

And then there’s the fact that the home team has yet to win a game in this series.

“I would like,” Bruce Bochy said, smiling, “for it to stay that way.”

The streak stayed alive because of Eovaldi’s start, the return of the Rangers’ big bats and an unlikely roll through the Rangers’ bullpen, starting with Josh Sborz, whose season has mirrored the performance of the bullpen in general.

Or as he put it before Sunday’s game, “I had a really bad August.”

Pause.

“Awful August, to be more clear.”

But he went to the lab, tinkered with the shape of his pitches, and came out the other side as a fairly reliable option. He got a double play to end the seventh on five pitches, then came back out in the eighth to strike out Yordan Alvarez between a walk and a single.

And that’s when Bochy brought out . . . Jose Leclerc? The closer? The guy who gave up a three-run homer that cost the Rangers a 3-2 lead in the series?

How about this for karma? In the eighth, with the bases loaded after he walked Kyle Tucker, Leclerc struck out pinch hitter Jon Singleton, whom he’d walked Friday to set up Jose Altuve’s three-run, game-winning homer.

After Sunday’s game, Bochy said he’d planned to send Leclerc back out for the ninth had the Rangers not padded their lead, which allowed him to turn it over to Andrew Heaney instead. Had it still been close, Bochy said Leclerc would have been followed by Aroldis Chapman. Fortunately, it didn’t come to that.

Hey, even with this Rangers team, there’s only so much magic to go around.

Now Bochy has a full bullpen to back up Scherzer, who has the full faith of his peers. Eovaldi expects better than what we saw last week in Arlington from a guy “champing at the bit.” Lord knows how he goes and the Rangers from here, but you can’t say you haven’t been entertained.

X: @KSherringtonDMNTexas Rangers right fielder Adolis Garcia celebrates with third baseman Josh Jung after hitting a grand slam in the ninth inning against the Houston Astros in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series on Sunday, Oct. 22, in Houston. The Rangers won the game 9-2 forcing a deciding Game 7.(Smiley N. Pool / Staff Photographer)Houston Astros fan boo Texas Rangers right fielder Adolis Garcia as he digs into the batters box for a pitch he for a grand slam during the ninth inning in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series on Sunday, Oct. 22, in Houston.(Smiley N. Pool / Staff Photographer)Texas Rangers right fielder Adolis Garcia connects for a ninth inning grand slam home run during a 9-2 victory over the Houston Astros in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series on Sunday, Oct. 22, in Houston.(Smiley N. Pool / Staff Photographer)Texas Rangers Adolis Garcia (53) connects on a grand slam in the ninth inning during Game 6 of the American League Championship Series against the Houston Astros, Sunday, Oct. 22, at Minute Maid Park in Houston.(Tom Fox / Staff Photographer)Texas Rangers right fielder Adolis Garcia connects for a ninth inning grand slam home run during a 9-2 victory over the Houston Astros in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series on Sunday, Oct. 22, in Houston.(Smiley N. Pool / Staff Photographer)Texas Rangers Adolis Garcia (53) cranks a grand slam in the ninth inning during Game 6 of the American League Championship Series against the Houston Astros, Sunday, Oct. 22, at Minute Maid Park in Houston.(Tom Fox / Staff Photographer)Texas Rangers right fielder Adolis Garcia follows through a ninth inning grand slam home run during a 9-2 victory over the Houston Astros in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series on Sunday, Oct. 22, in Houston.(Smiley N. Pool / Staff Photographer)Texas Rangers Adolis Garcia (53) drops his bat in front of the Houston Astros dugout as he rounds the bases following his ninth inning grand slam during Game 6 of the American League Championship Series against the Houston Astros, Sunday, Oct. 22, at Minute Maid Park in Houston.(Tom Fox / Staff Photographer)Texas Rangers Adolis Garcia (53) heads to second base after hitting a grand slam in the ninth inning during Game 6 of the American League Championship Series against the Houston Astros, Sunday, Oct. 22, at Minute Maid Park in Houston.(Tom Fox / Staff Photographer)Texas Rangers Adolis Garcia (53) passes by Houston Astros shortstop Jeremy Pena (3) as he rounds the bases following his grand slam in the ninth inning during Game 6 of the American League Championship Series, Sunday, Oct. 22, at Minute Maid Park in Houston.(Tom Fox / Staff Photographer)Texas Rangers Adolis Garcia (53) points tot he crowd after cranking a grand slam in the ninth inning during Game 6 of the American League Championship Series against the Houston Astros, Sunday, Oct. 22, at Minute Maid Park in Houston.(Tom Fox / Staff Photographer)Texas Rangers Adolis Garcia (53) blows a kiss skyward after cranking a grand slam in the ninth inning during Game 6 of the American League Championship Series against the Houston Astros, Sunday, Oct. 22, at Minute Maid Park in Houston. Garcia scored Leody Taveras (3), Corey Seager (5) and Marcus Semien (2).(Tom Fox / Staff Photographer)Texas Rangers Adolis Garcia (53) blows a kiss skyward after cranking a grand slam in the ninth inning during Game 6 of the American League Championship Series against the Houston Astros, Sunday, Oct. 22, at Minute Maid Park in Houston. Garcia scored Leody Taveras (3), Corey Seager (5) and Marcus Semien (2).(Tom Fox / Staff Photographer)Texas Rangers Adolis Garcia (53) is congratulated by teammate Leody Taveras (3) after cranking a grand slam in the ninth inning during Game 6 of the American League Championship Series against the Houston Astros, Sunday, Oct. 22, at Minute Maid Park in Houston. Garcia scored Taveras (3), Corey Seager (5) and Marcus Semien (2).(Tom Fox / Staff Photographer)Texas Rangers right fielder Adolis Garcia (53) celebrates with second baseman Marcus Semien (right) after hitting a grand slam in the ninth inning against the Houston Astros in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series on…

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