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Texas governor prematurely congratulates Astros during Game 4 loss

Texas Governor Gary Abbott needs a reprieve, and the only way he'll get it is if the Houston Astros beat the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday in the winner-take-all Game 5 of their American League Division Series.

If the Astros lose, Abbott appears destined to join the ranks of Steve Bartman and Bill Buckner as postseason goats. That's because of a tweet posted by the governor's office Monday to congratulate Houston on advancing to the American League Championship Series. The only problem was it was a premature celebration.

The tweet — which read "Congrats to the @astros on advancing to the ALCS! Hoping for an all-Texas #ALCS. Looking at you @Rangers" — was posted during the seventh inning of Game 4, when the Astros took a 6-2 lead and were six outs away from the ALCS.

But the Royals rallied for five runs in the eighth to take a 7-6 lead and added two more in the ninth en route to a 9-6 victory. It was the largest comeback win of the season for Kansas City, a reversal of fortune many superstitious Astros fans blamed on Abbott.

After the devastating defeat, Abbott tried to do some damage control by letting it be known that the premature tweet was posted to the Twitter account of his office (@GovAbbott) — not his personal account (@GregAbbott_TX) — and was an error made by his staff, not him. Way to own it, governor.

"Hey @Astros fans. Unfollow --> @GovAbbott. Follow the REAL Greg Abbott right here. No predictions. Just support," he posted.

For good measure, the Rangers also lost Game 4 of their ALDS series to the Toronto Blue Jays following Abbott's well wishes.

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