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MLB Postseason

Game 7: Texas at Houston

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HOUSTON – (Wire Service Report) – Four years ago, the improbable became reality when the Houston Astros lost Game 7 of the 2019 World Series 6-2 to the Washington Nationals at Minute Maid Park, capping the first postseason series in league history during which the road team claimed every contest in a seven-game set.

With Houston’s 9-2 loss to the Rangers on Sunday in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series, the specter of a repeat of that dubious outcome grew exponentially when Texas forced a decisive Game 7 to be played today.

After producing a plus-11 run differential while sweeping Games 3-5 at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, the Astros fell to 1-4 at home this postseason on the heels of posting a sub-.500 home record during the regular season.

An inability to produce in the clutch continues to plague the Astros, who finished 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position in Game 6 and are 2-for-17 in the ALCS at home in those situations. Houston loaded the bases with one out, trailing 4-2 in the bottom of the eighth inning, but failed to convert when Mauricio Dubon lined out to short and pinch hitter Jon Singleton struck out on Sunday.

“It’s disappointing,” said Astros manager Dusty Baker, who named right-hander Cristian Javier the starter for the series finale. “The name of the game is opportunities, and then after that, you hope that you come through. And, yeah, that was — that eighth inning where we had action, and especially with (Dubon) up there, this guy has been coming through all year long, and you know he’s going to make contact. And like I said, some days you just don’t get it done.”

Javier (2-0, 1.69 ERA this postseason) allowed two runs on three hits and one walk with three strikeouts over 5 2/3 innings in the Astros’ 8-5 victory in Game 3. Javier had not allowed a run in his three previous postseason starts and improved to 4-0 with a 0.82 ERA as a starter in the postseason.

Despite enduring an erratic season on the mound, Javier has maintained a levelheaded approach to his craft. With their season on the line, the Astros will require more of the same.

“My thought process is to stay positive and go out and just compete,” Javier said.

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The Rangers, who improved to 7-0 on the road this postseason, will counter with veteran right-hander Max Scherzer, who took the loss opposite Javier in Game 3 in what was his postseason debut for Texas and his first appearance since Sept. 12. Scherzer had been sidelined with a muscle strain in his shoulder before returning against the Astros and allowing five runs on five hits and one walk with four strikeouts over four innings.

Though Scherzer (0-1, 11.25) was adamant in the aftermath of that appearance that his arm was healthy, the Rangers are in a position to opt for alternative options should he scuffle after right-hander Nathan Eovaldi logged 6 1/3 innings on Sunday.

“Well, we have a full bullpen because of the job that Nate did,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said. “So, they’re all hands on deck, as they say. They’re all available. You look at matchups and things like that. But they’re all ready to go.”

Incidentally, Scherzer was the starting pitcher for the Nationals in that fateful Game 7 in 2019.

–MK Bower, Field Level Media

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Rangers, Eovaldi Force Game 7

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HOUSTON — Texas SP Nathan Eovaldi remained unbeaten this postseason, while teammates Mitch Garver had three hits and two RBIs and Adolis Garcia socked a grand slam as the Texas Rangers defeated the host Houston Astros 9-2 in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series on Sunday.

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The Rangers squared the best-of-seven series at 3-3 and forced a decisive Game 7 on Monday by extending their road winning streak to seven games this postseason. Texas won for just the second time in 10 games when facing elimination and snapped a five-game skid in such contests.

The road team has won all six games of the ALCS. The road team won all seven games of the 2019 World Series, with the Astros falling to the Washington Nationals at Minute Maid Park.

The Rangers got a solo home run from Garver leading off the second inning and a two-run blast by Jonah Heim in the fourth to take a 3-1 lead.

Eovaldi (4-0) settled in after surrendering an RBI single to Yordan Alvarez in the bottom of the first that scored Jose Altuve. He retired the side in order in the second and fourth and worked around a pair of walks in the third before Alvarez led off the sixth with a single.

Alvarez subsequently scored on Mauricio Dubon’s sacrifice fly that cut the margin to 3-2, but Eovaldi held the line there. He departed after surrendering a one-out single to Altuve in the seventh. He was charged with two runs on five hits and three walks, and he struck out four.

The Astros finished 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position against Eovaldi and 1-for-8 overall.

Garver knotted the score at 1-1 with his opposite-field blast to right off Astros left-hander Framber Valdez (0-3). Two innings later, Valdez quickly recorded two outs before Garver singled ahead of Heim, whose two-run shot also went the opposite way to right, giving Texas a 3-1 lead.

Garver produced an RBI double in the eighth off Astros reliever Bryan Abreu, scoring Evan Carter, who reached on an infield single and stole second base.

Rangers closer Jose Leclerc then pitched out of a jam in the bottom of the eighth, getting Dubon to hit a soft liner to shortstop Corey Seager before winning an eight-pitch confrontation against pinch-hitter Jon Singleton with a strikeout to strand the bases loaded.

Garcia, who was 0-for-4 with four strikeouts and serenaded with boos during every plate appearance, blew it open with a grand slam off Astros reliever Ryne Stanek in the ninth.

–By MK Bower, Field Level Media

Rangers Nip Astros in Battle of Texas

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HOUSTON — Outpitched by his counterpart of the Texas Rangers, left-hander Jordan Montgomery, Houston Astros right-hander Justin Verlander didn’t appear overly concerned in the aftermath of a 2-0 loss in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series on Sunday.

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Participating in their seventh consecutive ALCS, the longest such streak in AL postseason history, the Astros have shown resilience plenty of times previously. Their inability to solve Montgomery made for a micro issue, but it didn’t leave the 2022 World Series champions feeling any sense of hopelessness despite falling into a 1-0 hole in the best-of-seven series.

Houston won’t have to wait long for a chance to even things, as it plays host to the Rangers today in Game 2 of the ALCS.

“We lost Game 1 in the World Series last year,” Verlander said. “We’ve lost Game 1 of some playoff series before. And that’s the great thing about this team.

“Obviously, nobody is sitting in the locker room right now happy. But it’s very matter of fact. We just got punched. How do you answer?”

Left-hander Framber Valdez (0-1, 10.38 ERA in postseason) is the scheduled starter for the Astros in Game 2. He allowed five runs on seven hits and three walks with five strikeouts over 4 1/3 innings in a 6-2 loss to the Minnesota Twins in Game 2 of the AL Division Series.

The loss dropped Valdez, who finished 12-11 with a 3.45 ERA across 31 regular-season starts, to 7-3 with a 3.82 ERA over 14 career postseason appearances (13 starts).

Valdez is 7-5 with a 2.90 ERA over 16 career appearances (13 starts) against the Rangers. In three starts against Texas this season, Valdez finished 1-2 with a 4.32 ERA.

Right-hander Nathan Eovaldi (2-0, 1.32) has the starting assignment for the Rangers on Monday. He has allowed one run in each of his two starts this postseason, with Texas clinching series against the Tampa Bay Rays and Baltimore Orioles with Eovaldi on the bump. Eovaldi has recorded 15 strikeouts against 11 hits and zero walks in 13 2/3 innings this postseason.

Eovaldi is 3-4 with a 4.42 ERA over 10 career regular-season starts against the Astros. He was the pitcher of record in a 14-1 loss to Houston on Sept. 5 after surrendering four runs on five hits — including two home runs — and one walk with one strikeout while recording only four outs.

Eovaldi finished 1-1 with a 4.32 ERA in two starts against the Astros this season, including a 5-2 win at Minute Maid Park after he tossed seven shutout innings while allowing two hits and issuing four walks.

The Rangers showcased a blueprint for how they plan to attack Astros left-handed slugger Yordan Alvarez, who recorded a 1.783 on-base-plus-slugging percentage with four home runs in the ALDS against the Twins.

Montgomery recorded three strikeouts of Alvarez by working inside with fastballs before finishing him off with curveballs. Alvarez produced an .892 OPS against left-handed pitching during the regular season but finished 0-for-4 against Montgomery and southpaw reliever Aroldis Chapman, who got Alvarez to roll a harmless ground ball to first baseman Nathaniel Lowe to conclude the eighth.

“Yeah, obviously he’s a really good hitter, so you kind of have to do a little bit of everything to him,” Montgomery said. “But we kind of worked the fastball in and out and threw some curveballs for strikes and expanded and made some big pitches when we needed to.”

MLB Postseason: Texas Ousts O’s

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ARLINGTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – The Texas Rangers took the hard route after blowing a 2 1/2-game lead in the American League West in the final week of the regular season and landing in the wild-card round. Five consecutive victories later, the Rangers are headed to the AL Championship Series after a solid 7-1 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday in Texas.

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Texas swept the Tampa Bay Rays in two games in an AL wild-card series before outscoring the Orioles 21-11 in three AL Division Series contests. The Rangers are headed to their first ALCS since making back-to-back World Series appearances in 2010 and ’11.

“We regrouped on that flight,” Texas star Corey Seager said of a trip from Seattle following the end of the regular season to Tampa Bay to start the playoffs. “We wanted to punch our ticket (as AL West champion) and we didn’t. We wanted to finish it off and try to win the division, but it didn’t happen. We moved on really fast, and we knew we had an opportunity in front of us.”

Seager hit one of three Rangers’ homers on Tuesday in the club’s first home game of the postseason. Adolis Garcia smacked a three-run homer, Nathaniel Lowe also went deep and Mitch Garver contributed a two-run double for Texas.

Garver, Garcia and Josh Jung each had two hits for the Rangers.

Nathan Eovaldi (2-0) allowed one run and five hits over seven innings for Texas. He struck out seven and walked none in his second straight stellar effort this postseason.

“It is more so just trusting my pitches,” Eovaldi said. “I have a game plan going in, but it’s going to change at times. I had a really good feel for my splitter.”

Texas will face either the Houston Astros or Minnesota Twins in the ALCS, with Game 1 on Sunday in either Houston or Minneapolis.

The Rangers went just 68-94 last season before manager Bruce Bochy was lured out of a three-year retirement by Chris Young, the Texas general manager who pitched for Bochy in 2006 with the San Diego Padres.

Bochy, 68, won three World Series titles as skipper of the San Francisco Giants and is hopeful of adding another.

“It’s just unreal. This is what I came back for, hoping something like this would happen,” Bochy said. “These guys have been warriors. Road warriors. The kind of baseball they’ve been playing is awesome.”

Gunnar Henderson had three hits and an RBI for the Orioles, who have lost eight straight playoff games dating back to 2014. Baltimore won an AL-best 101 games in the regular season.

It was a bittersweet ending for the Orioles.

“They defied all the odds. Nobody gave us a chance,” Baltimore manager Brandon Hyde said. “These guys played their butts off for six months. We just didn’t play well for these last three, unfortunately. It’s definitely a successful season, and these guys are going to be really good going forward.”

The contest was the first at home for the Rangers since Sept. 24. Texas had played its previous 11 games — seven to end the regular season, four to start the playoffs — on the road.

Seager came up as the second batter in the game against Dean Kremer (0-1) and hammered a 445-foot homer into the seats in right-center. The blast was his first of these playoffs and 14th postseason shot of his career.

Texas loaded the bases with two outs in the second before Garver ripped a double down the third base line to score two. The big hit came two days after Garver hit a grand slam and drove in five runs in Game 2.

Garcia followed with a three-run blast to left-center to make it 6-0 and end Kremer’s night. The 418-foot shot was Garcia’s second career postseason homer, both coming this year.

Baltimore got on the board in the fifth inning when Henderson’s two-out single scored Jordan Westburg from second.

Lowe led off the sixth with a 437-foot homer off Kyle Gibson. It was the first postseason blast of Lowe’s career.

Kremer allowed six runs and seven hits in 1 2/3 innings. He walked one and struck out none.

–Field Level Media

MLB Postseason: Blue Jays at Minny

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MINNEAPOLIS – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – The Minnesota Twins will try to end a nearly 19-year-old playoff victory drought when they host the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 1 of an American League wild-card series on Tuesday afternoon in Minnesota.

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The Twins’ most recent playoff victory was Oct. 5, 2004, against the New York Yankees. Since then, Minnesota has lost a record 18 straight postseason games.

Meanwhile, the Blue Jays also are eager to turn around their recent playoff fortunes. Toronto has been swept in each of its past two wild-card series, in 2020 against the Tampa Bay Rays and last season against the Seattle Mariners, and it is searching for its first postseason win since Oct. 18, 2016, against Cleveland.

Toronto (89-73) won more games this season than Minnesota (87-75), but the Twins will have home-field advantage because they won a weaker AL Central. The Blue Jays finished in third place behind the Baltimore Orioles and Tampa Bay Rays in the AL East.

The winner of this series will play the Houston Astros in the American League Division Series.

Toronto manager John Schneider said he and his players felt relief and excitement.

“Baseball is hard and this (East) division is hard,” Schneider said. “I think getting here probably takes a lot of weight off of the players’ shoulders. Looking back at spring training, there were very high expectations.

“People can say we either met them or fell short of them, but the fact that we are in. I think the guys really like that. They’re really looking forward to it because of how good they are.”

The Twins’ lineup includes several young players without playoff experience, but veteran shortstop Carlos Correa is looking to provide leadership and perspective. Correa went to the World Series three times with the Houston Astros.

Correa hit only .230 this season with 18 homers and 65 RBIs. He said those statistics carried no weight anymore, and that he felt healthy and ready to start in Game 1.

“You throw the numbers out the window and the (new) season starts,” Correa said. “This is the season that matters. It’s time to go.”

High-quality, consistent pitching helped propel both teams into the playoffs.

Twins right-hander Pablo Lopez will get the ball in Game 1 after posting an 11-8 record with a 3.66 ERA in 32 starts during the regular season. Lopez recorded a team-high 234 strikeouts in 194 innings, and he limited batters to a .238 average.

This will be Lopez’s second career playoff start. His first opportunity came with the Miami Marlins in 2020, when he allowed two runs on three hits in five innings against the Atlanta Braves.

In two career starts against Toronto, Lopez is 1-0 with a 5.59 ERA.

The Blue Jays will turn to right-hander Kevin Gausman to start the series. He went 12-9 with a 3.16 ERA in 31 starts this season, and he led the American League with 237 strikeouts in 185 innings.

Gausman has appeared in seven playoff games and started two. He is 0-1 with a 4.57 ERA in those contests, which have included appearances with Baltimore, Atlanta, San Francisco and Toronto.

In 11 career starts against the Twins, Gausman is 1-4 with a 6.35 ERA.

The Twins and Blue Jays faced each other six times this season, with each club winning three games. Minnesota had a narrow 28-26 advantage in runs.

–Field Level Media

MLB Postseason: D-Backs at Brewers

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MILWAUKEE – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – The Milwaukee Brewers will turn to ace right-hander Corbin Burnes when the National League Central champions host the Arizona Diamondbacks on Tuesday in the opener of the best-of-three wild-card series.

Burnes (10-8, 3.39 ERA) will be opposed by rookie right-hander Brandon Pfaadt (3-9, 5.72 ERA), facing the Brewers for the first time. Arizona (84-78) won four of the six regular-season meetings with Milwaukee (92-70).

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The Brewers received devastating news Monday when they learned that right-hander Brandon Woodruff, scheduled to pitch the second game, would miss the entire series with a right shoulder injury, with the remainder of the postseason in doubt.

“We’ve got good pitching, we’ve got really good pitching,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said Monday. “We feel good about how we’re going to get through this series with a lot of guys on the mound. Giving the ball to Corbin on Day 1 is as good a feeling as you can have.”

The Diamondbacks, in the postseason for the first time since 2017, finished the regular season with four consecutive losses but secured the final wild card on Saturday when other contenders also lost.

Arizona was 52-39 at the All-Star break and tied with the Dodgers for the NL West lead but finished 16 games behind Los Angeles. The Diamondbacks, who lost 110 games in 2021, are just the third team in major league history to go from a 110-plus loss season to the playoffs within three years.

“It’s a first for a lot of people, not just our pitcher, and I think there’s just a certain readiness that they’ll all have because they’ve worked hard to get here,” Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said. “The team is extremely hungry, they have a lot to prove, they’re very connected, and we feel like we’re very dangerous.”

In getting swept by Houston to end the season, the Diamondbacks scored just two runs and were 1-for-20 with runners in scoring position. Arizona also used its two top starters, Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly, against Houston.

Milwaukee, appearing in the postseason for the fifth time in six seasons, was 27-13 over its final 40 games.

Catcher William Contreras brings an 18-game hitting streak into the playoffs. He hit .342 (52-for-152) with five homers, 11 doubles, 24 RBIs, 25 walks and 33 runs over his final 39 games.

Milwaukee improved its offense with the trade deadline acquisitions of Mark Canha and Carlos Santana. Canha’s 33 RBIs from Aug. 1 to Oct. 1 trailed only Contreras (34) for most on the team. Santana had 11 homers and 33 RBIs in 52 games after being acquired from Pittsburgh.

Outfielder Tyrone Taylor, injured much of the first half, hit .291 (23-for-79) over his final 23 games with five homers, nine doubles and 17 RBIs.

“These guys have done it for a lot of years, so adding them to our lineup, it lengthens it a bit,” said outfielder Christian Yelich. “I just feel like we have quality at-bats up and down the lineup and it puts a lot of pressure on people.”

Burnes was 1-1 with a 2.51 ERA in five starts in September, including three scoreless starts. In his final two outings, he scattered seven hits over nine scoreless innings.

Burnes struck out 200, the third consecutive season he reached that mark, and walked 66. Opponents are batting .200 against him, but just .183 in September.

Burnes is 2-1 in five career starts vs. Arizona, including 1-1 with 4.85 ERA in two games this season.

Pfaadt was 2-2 with a 4.32 ERA in five appearances in September, including four starts. In two of his last three starts, he did not allow a run.

In his last start, he allowed five hits over 5 2/3 scoreless innings, striking out eight and walking none in a crucial 3-0 win over the White Sox.

Arizona right fielder Corbin Carroll, the likely NL Rookie of the Year, had 25 homers and 76 RBIs, hitting .285.

–Field Level Media

MLB Postseason: Marlins at Phillies

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PHILADELPHIA – (Staff and Wire Service Report by Field Level Media) – If last year’s success was any indication of what the Philadelphia Phillies can do with a wild-card berth, the Miami Marlins could be in some serious trouble.

Philadelphia will look to replicate its playoff run from a season ago, and it will begin its journey on Tuesday when it hosts Miami in Game 1 of a best-of-three National League wild-card series.

The Phillies are coming off a 90-72 finish in the regular season that allowed them to lock down the NL’s top wild-card position after grabbing the third and final spot in 2022.

While it might not have been presented with the most favorable draw last year, Philadelphia thrived, going all the way to the World Series and coming within two wins of its first championship since 2008.

But what’s in the past is in the past, and the Phillies know they have to prove themselves once again.

“Nothing is going to be easy,” Philadelphia designated hitter Kyle Schwarber said. “They’re all really good teams in the postseason. Miami is a really good team. We’ve got to do what we do.”

Right-hander Zack Wheeler (13-6, 3.61 ERA) will look to help the Phillies get off to a fast start when he takes the mound for Game 1.

Wheeler made his final start of the regular season on Thursday, allowing one run on four hits in four innings to take a no-decision against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

In 22 career starts against the Marlins, Wheeler is 10-4 with a 2.48 ERA. He has never faced Miami in the postseason, where he has gone 1-3 with 2.78 ERA in six starts overall.

Left-hander Jesus Luzardo (10-9, 3.63) will get the start for the Marlins, who went 84-77 to grab the NL’s second wild card.

In his last outing of the regular season, Luzardo gave up one run on four hits in 7 1/3 innings against the New York Mets on Thursday. He didn’t earn a decision, though, as the game was suspended in the ninth and never made up.

Luzardo is 3-0 with a 3.26 ERA in five career starts against the Phillies. He hasn’t faced Philadelphia in the playoffs, where he has struggled, going 0-1 with a 5.91 ERA in three appearances (two starts).

Miami finds itself in unfamiliar territory, as it heads to the playoffs in a regulation-length season for the first time since 2003 when they won the World Series as the Florida Marlins. The team didn’t return to the postseason until the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign.

Although Miami will be thrown into a hostile environment right out of the gate, manager Skip Schumaker believes his team is ready for the challenge.

“This is one of the better places to play, just because the fans are so passionate,” Schumaker said of Philadelphia, where he faced the Phillies in the NL Division Series in 2011 as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals. “It’s a special place.

“If you don’t have a little bit of nerves, that means you don’t care. … I know that these guys are really excited, they’ll probably be a little bit nervous, and that’s OK, but I think there’s more excitement than nerves.”

Schumaker said second baseman Luis Arraez, the NL batting champion, should be good to go for Game 1 after being hampered by an ankle injury.

Arraez hit .354 during the regular season.

–Field Level Media

The Sun Came Up Again for Astros

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By TERRY LYONS

BOSTON – Just as Houston Astros manager Dusty Baker predicted, the sun came up for the Houston Astros on Tuesday morning and it set in time for Game 4 of their American League Championship Series against the Boston Red Sox at Jam-packed Fenway Park. After the 12-3 throttling the ‘Stros took at the hands of the Sox on Monday, all signs pointed towards another Boston victory.

Momentum be damned.

The pundits’ predictions for three straight for the Red Sox at Fenway were plentiful. Yet, experience and past results showed that one game does not a series make. Best-of-seven playoff series often have pendulum-like sways and they play with the minds of the media, the fans but not the teams and players.

Case in point:

  • Game 1: The Houston Astros won, 5-4, at home and took control of the series
  • Game 2: The Boston Red Sox won, 9-5, at Houston and escaped Texas with home field advantage in their pockets.
  • Game 3: The Red Sox lambaste the Astros, 12-3, to go up 2-1 in the series and gain control and all momentum.
  • Game 4: The Astros strike back, 9-2 at Fenway, making the series a best-of-three with Houston regaining home field ad.

Game 5 is late this afternoon at Fenway Park where the bright setting sun will cast shadows on the field, and make right fielders cringe upon every fly ball hit towards the Pru. If you ask the old Oakland Raiders of the NFL, you’ll also be reminded that the Autumn Wind is a Pirate. We’ll just have to see as Mother Nature has been kind to MLB as October 20’s weather forecast could easily be for September 1st.

Houston will send Framber Valdez out to the mound while Boston will stake its season with Chris Sale pitching the pivotal fifth game of the ALCS. Sox fans yearn for the days of yesteryear when Sale was an automatic “W,” and 10 strike-outs were the norm. Instead, we’ll see if Sale can bounce back from two subpar postseason outings, each coming after he’s battled an inflamed elbow, Tommy John surgery (March 30, 2020) and a slow return as the 2020 and 2021 MLB seasons marched on while the world battled COVID-19.

Sale’s last outing was Game 1 of the ALCS in Houston. He gave up five hits and an earned run but only pitched 2.2 innings. His first start of the MLB Postseason was Game 2 of the AL Divisional Series vs. Tampa Bay when he allowed five earned runs on four hits and lasted just one inning.

Not great.

Sale and Valdez matched-up in Game 1 of this series and Valdez wasn’t much better, allowing three runs (two earned.thank-you Jose Altuve), six hits with three walks in 2.2 innings pitched. In that series opener, each team utilized eight pitchers in another four hour epic.

Red Sox manager Alex Cora remains quite confident he’ll see a batter version of his one-time ace.

“He’ll be fine,” said Cora after Tuesday night’s Boston loss. “The way he threw the ball at the end of that outing in Houston, it was good. The way he worked in between starts, it was good. He will be ready.”

What did veteran and perfect prognosticator Baker think?

“This (series) is enjoying baseball as if you are a child,” said the Astros manager as if he were reading scrips for the motion picture, Field of Dreams.  “You know, this is one of the great things about baseball. When you’re dead in the water and things aren’t going good, and then all of a sudden, ‘boom, boom, boom,’ and you’ve got seven runs. That’s what they’ve been doing to us this whole series, and we’re capable of doing that as well.”

Baker is an amazing and respected baseball man who boils it down, knew the sun would rise once again for his ‘Stros, and that his team is close and getting closer by the game and the series.

Game 5s are a better prognosticator than Baker, however. This afternoon marks the seventh ALCS to be tied at 2-2 since the best-of-7 format began in 1985. Since then, six of the clubs that won Game 5 went on to win the pennant (all except the 2017 Yankees vs. these Houston Astros).

In other words, expect one hell of a Game 5 and to the winner … a ticket to the World Series awaits.

 

ALCS: Sox and ‘Stros Vie for Game 3

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BOSTON –  (Staff and Wire Services Reports and Preview Material – Boston’s DH J.D. Martinez and 3B Rafael Devers uncorked two grand samplings of power Saturday to lead the Red Sox and even their American League Championship Series with the Houston Astros at one game apiece. Tonight, the Red Sox return to Fenway Park with home field advantage and some serious momentum on their side as they host the Astros for a pivotal Game 3 in their best-of-seven showdown.

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Martinez and Devers became the first pair of teammates in MLB’s postseason history to hit Grand Slams in the same game, doing so in the first and second innings respectively of Boston’s decisive 9-5 win in Game 2 on Saturday at Houston. Boston cruised to the key win with a fourth-inning solo homer from Enrique “Kike” Hernandez, who continued his big to be the new “Mr. October” with a 2-for-4 performance to make him 16-for-32 (.500) with five home runs and nine RBIs through seven 2021 MLB Postseason games.

A career .242 hitter, Hernandez has an MLB-record 15 hits over his last five playoff games and became the first Red Sox batter to homer five times in five postseason games. He has already matched Todd Walker (2003) and former Sox DH David Ortiz (2004 and 2013) for the club record for home runs in a single postseason.

Already without injured ace Lance McCullers Jr., the Astros’ rotation took another blow in the form of an injury to Game 2 starter Luis Garcia. He exited after serving up the grand slam to Martinez, leaving potential Game 4 starter Jake Odorizzi to pitch in a surprise mop-up role.

“I was caught off guard by it. I think everybody was,” Odorizzi said. “I sucked up four innings. That’s the best way of putting it. Those can be crucial as we move forward in the series.”

Houston right-hander Jose Urquidy is set to make his postseason debut in a critical spot as he starts Game 3. The 26-year-old had been in line to start Game 4 of the team’s AL Division Series against the Chicago White Sox before it was rained out. Urquidy went 8-3 with a 3.62 ERA over 20 starts in the regular season. In his postseason career, he is 1-1 with a 2.81 ERA in eight appearances (four starts).

Boston will counter with left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez (0-1, 5.40 ERA). The 28-year-old went winless in two playoff starts against Tampa Bay in the ALDS and is 0-1 with a 7.02 ERA in 10 career postseason games (three starts).

Rodriguez struggled in two regular-season starts against Houston as he went 0-1 with an 11.57 ERA in 9 1/3 innings. Overall, Rodriguez is 1-3 with an 8.53 ERA in six career starts against the Astros.

The Urquidy-Rodriguez duel has led to a relatively high (for postseason) Over/Under of 9.0 runs at DraftKings. Then, there’s the Fenway Park factor, as well.  Game 3 will mark the first of three ALCS games to be played at The Fens, a band-box for run scoring, especially if the New England winds kick in.

The Highs and Lows of MLB Postseason

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Red Sox to Face Tough Tampa Bay Rays in ALDS

By TERRY LYONS

BOSTON – When it comes to postseason baseball, when they go low – WE GO HIGH!

Before the Boston Red Sox eliminated the New York Yankees in the American League Wild Card game, you might’ve heard about the New York Post rattling their once mighty sabres to taunt all things Boston with a column listing dozens of suggestions why “Boston Sucks.”

The reasons included gems like:

  • Incapable of making a good pizza.
  • Use the word “wicked” to describe everything other than witches.
  • The accent.
  • The people with the accent.
  • Bill de Blasio roots for you.

Besides the fact we’ll put the North End’s Regina Pizzeria up against Patsy’s any day of the week, the focus today is more a call-out of the ill-fated column’s sophomoric content and the old-as-time, typical New York trash-talking before any major league playoff series. One might harken back to 1994 when the Houston Rockets met the New York Knicks in the NBA Finals and the New York Post and the Houston Chronicle got into a trash-talking match which was led by then-NYP columnist Wallace Matthews going so far as to describe America’s fourth most populous city as “a steamy, bug-infested nondescript prairie town.” Matthews’ editors and headline writers took it from there with the memorable “This place is a hellhole” banner.

When the Houston Rockets took Game 1 of the NBA Finals, the Chronicle shot back with: HELLHOLE 1, N.Y. 0.

That brief history lesson brings us to the present day and the upcoming ALDS series pitting the Boston Red Sox against the Tampa Bay Rays which starts tonight in Florida.

The so-called New England elite might begin to compare the two cities by citing the differences between Harvard, MIT, Tufts and Boston College against Tampa’s University of South Florida (which is not even in South Florida), but let’s not go there. As it says, New York went low, so we’ll go HIGH.

How can you rip Tampa in 2021 when the Tampa Bay Bucs are the reigning NFL Super Bowl champions? The Buccaneers maneuvered their way to acquire New England treasure and greatest NFL quarterback of all-time Tom Brady, along with our favorite knucklehead tight end Rob Gronkowski to build a football team than might even repeat as NFL champions.

On the skating rink, you’d think the Northerners would have the advantage, but … No … the Tampa Bay Lightning are the class of the National Hockey League and have three Stanley Cup titles to prove it. Since 2003, they’ve made more trips to the Stanley Cup Playoffs than Patriots’ team owner Robert Kraft has made to the Orchids of Asia spa. The Lightning are the defending Cup champions as the new NHL season begins and there’s nothing on paper to think they won’t be standing in front of NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman for another presentation in 2022.

Thank goodness, Tampa-St. Pete doesn’t field a franchise in the NBA or the vaunted Boston Celtics might be in big trouble.

The subject of SPORTS is not the only distinguished merits of the City of Tampa, although you might note Mets fireballer Doc Gooden and LA Dodgers great Steve Garvey are both from Tampa, along with scores of major leaguers and even a few pro wrestling greats (Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage, to name two).

Let’s discuss music, starting with the fact both the great Ray Charles and sax-man extraordinaire Cannonball Adderley hail from Tampa.

If you want to get real serious, the charming and amazing actress and model Lauren Hutton spent her formative years in Tampa and graduated from Chamberlain High School before attending UCF and later Tulane University.

Back on the music scene, you can’t overlook that alto saxophone superstar David Sanborn was born in Tampa and Ray Charles’ band played a huge influence on his life as one of the purest sax players in history. Do you like Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young? If you want to *teach your children well, Stephen Stills – the genius songwriter, musician and voice of the ’60s – grew up in Tampa and Gainesville, Florida.

Tampa has enough history and success stories to continue, but we’ll conclude with the fact that the orchestrator of the “Evil Empire,” the late New York Yankees team owner George Steinbrenner was born in Ohio and bounced around until settling down in Tampa in 2006 until his death there at age 80 (2010). ‘Nuff said about that, right?

Remember, we’re going HIGH except for one last “Big Dig.” New York, you can have Bill de Blasio.

The prediction: Sadly, Tampa in four games.

Note: *Teach Your Children was written by Stills’ CSN sidekick Graham Nash.