The Cycle, Issue 102: LCS Travel Day #2
Recapping the middle three games of the two League Championship Series and previewing the denouement
In this issue of The Cycle . . .
As one-sided as the two League Championship Series appeared Tuesday morning, both are heading to a Game 6, which means a very real chance of at least one Game 7. In today’s issue I recap how we got from there to here, and what this conclusive weekend holds for both series. I also identify the top hitters for each team thus far in the LCS.
American League Championship Series
Astros 3, Red Sox 2
Game 3
When the ALCS moved to Fenway Park, tied 1-1, the Red Sox seemed to have a slight advantage. After all, the majority of the remaining games would be played at their home ballpark, where they were 3-0 to that point in the postseason, and they stood a chance of eliminating the Astros without having to return to Houston. When Game 3 was over, it felt as though the Red Sox’s lead in the series was far greater than 2-1.
The Astros won Game 1 of this series 5–4 after a late comeback powered by home runs by Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa. In Game 2, the Red Sox hit grand slams in the first and second innings to jump out to an 8–0 lead in a game they ultimately won 9–5. Astros starters Framber Valdez and Luis Garcia had thrown a total of 3 2/3 innings in those games, the latter leaving with a knee injury that put his status for the rest of the series in doubt and forced the Astros to burn Game 4 starter Jake Odorizzi in relief. Heading into Game 3, with a bullpen game now looming for Game 4, the Astros needed a strong outing from Game 3 starter José Urquidy.
Instead, Urquidy failed to make it out of the second inning, as the Red Sox pushed across six runs in that frame, powered by a Kyle Schwarber grand slam. The Sox then scored three more in the bottom of the third (thanks in part to a two-run homer by Christian Arroyo) to jump out to another early 9–0 lead. Meanwhile, Boston starter Eduardo Rodriguez picked up where he left off in his Division Series–clinching start, holding the Astros to three runs over six innings, while striking out seven against no walks (in the two starts combined, Rodriguez struck out 13 in 11 innings without walking a batter). As if they needed them, the Sox added three insurance runs on homers by J.D. Martinez and Rafael Devers (the two batters who hit the grand slams in Game 2), and won in a route, 12–3.
Game 4
The Astros entered Game 4 having lost the previous two by a combined score of 21–8, with no reliable starting pitcher to turn to, facing down the very real possibility of going down 1-3 in the series and facing elimination at Fenway Park. Out of desperation, they turned to Zack Greinke for the start. That’s a big-game name, but Greinke, who was two days shy of his 38th birthday, had been ill, injured, and awful down the stretch, posting a 11.74 ERA in a mere 15 1/3 innings over the previous seven weeks.
Alex Bregman spotted Greinke a run with a solo homer off Boston starter Nick Pivetta in the top of the first, and Greinke got the first two outs of the game relatively quickly. However, Greinke then walked Rafael Devers and gave up a two-run homer onto Lansdowne Street by Xander Bogaerts to put Houston behind early for the fourth time in four games. Pivetta then settled down, combining with relievers Josh Taylor and Adam Ottavino to prevent any additional Astros runs through the sixth inning.
Greinke, as expected, got just four outs, but he and lefty Brooks Raley held the Red Sox to just those two runs, and Houston manager Dusty Baker turned the game over to Cristian Javier in the third. Javier, who dominated in relief appearances in the Division Series and Game 1 (4 2/3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 10 K), held the line for three innings. Phil Maton worked a perfect sixth, and Kendall Graveman worked a scoreless seventh to carry that 2–1 score into the eighth inning.
Leading off the eighth against Boston closer Garrett Whitlock, in his second inning of work, Jose Altuve, who had gone 0-for-12 since Game 1, lifted a game-tying home run over the Green Monster. Graveman again held the line in the bottom of the eighth, and Boston manager Alex Cora turned to projected Game 6 starter, Nathan Eovaldi in the top of the ninth.