Coming into the ALCS, we were all fearful of Houston's lethal offense and for good reason: they are deep and loaded with playoff experience. At the same time, we also have to recognize that Boston's lineup is just as dangerous as illustarted by today's 9-5 win by the Red Sox in Game 2 at Minute Maid Park. With that important victory, the series heads to Boston tied 1-1 with the next three games at Fenway Park. The final score is a bit misleading since Boston was up 8-0 in the second inning after a grand slams by DH J.D. Martinez and third baseman Rafael Devers (the first time in MLB history that a team hit two grand slams in the same playoff game) in consecutive frames. Boston's center fielder Kike Hernandez continued to be the hottest hitter on the planet as he crushed his fifth home run of the postseason (tying a Red Sox record for most HRs in an entire postseason) and Nathan Eovaldi (5.1 IP, 3 ER, 5 hits, 3 Ks, 1 BB) gave the Sox another solid outing.
Houston's rookie starting pitcher Leury Garcia was no match for Eovaldi as he only lasted 1+ inning before he was pulled with a fake injury (right knee discomfort). Former Rays great Jake Odorizzi followed Garcia and he also got knocked around as he allowed four earned runs and seven hits in four innings. Martinez's grand slam went to the opposite field as it scored first baseman Kyle Schwarber, Devers and Verdugo. Devers' grand slam in the next inning landed in a similar spot down the right field line and it plated catcher Kevin Plawecki, second baseman Christian Arroyo and Hernandez. Both of those memorable blasts were the first home runs of the series for Martinez and Devers while Hernandez already has three in the first two games against the Astros following his solo shot to left field in the fourth inning.
Houston got on the board in the fourth with an RBI double from right fielder Kyle Tucker that scored DH Yordan Alvarez. First baseman Yuli Gurriel followed with a two-run single that brought in shortstop Carlos Correa and Tucker. Red Sox manager Alex Cora's bullpen was good at first as Northeastern's Adam Ottavino got the last two outs in the sixth inning before the superb Garrett Whitlock pitched two scoreless innings with a pair of strikeouts. Lefty scrub Darwinzon Hernandez came on in the ninth inning with a 9-3 advantage but it was not nearly enough as he gave up solo home runs to Gurriel and pinch hitter Jason Castro. This forced Cora to bring in Ryan Brasier who retired Astros second baseman Jose Altuve on a deep fly ball to center field to end it. Whew.
I'm not saying it's going to happen since I believe that Houston is a better team than Tampa Bay but the Rays did win Game 1 of the ALDS before losing Game 2 at home and coming to Boston where they lost Games 3 and 4 to get eliminated from the playoffs. With three games in three days at Fenway starting on Monday night (8:08, FS1), the Sox have a wonderful opportunity to take control of this series and put themselves in a great position to reach yet another World Series. Including the Wild Card game vs. the Yankees, Boston is 3-0 at home this postseason and it should be an awesome atmosphere for these pivotal ALCS contests against a budding rival.
