Welcome to Game 3 of (one of) the American League Division Series, and the first of two postseason games being played on Sunday. The Red Sox are back in Boston and Fenway Park, hoping to keep their season alive with Doug Fister on the mound. The Astros, on the other hand, are up 2-0, and in position to be the first team to make it to their respective League Championship Series. They’ve tasked Brad Peacock with that mission.
If you want to read this in the order it happened in, scroll to the bottom and the “1st inning” header and start there.
9th inning
Carson Smith gets a chance to work here with Boston up by seven runs. George Springer singled, but Josh Reddick erased that with a double play — not a great afternoon for Reddick on either side of the ball. Altuve then gets another hit — shocker — and it’s Carlos Correa up to try to keep the Astros going.
Correa instead strikes out looking, and Boston makes the series 2-1. Next up is Game 4 at Fenway on Monday, unless rain makes us all wait another day for the Astros’ next chance to head to the ALCS.
8th inning
While we wait for the eighth inning to begin, here’s a fun look at how Rafael Devers got his last hit:
base hit pic.twitter.com/pi2WQSX8d3
— Cespedes Family BBQ (@CespedesBBQ) October 8, 2017
Baseball is so weird. Oh, here’s Mookie Betts making another good catch in right, ho-hum. Five more outs, and the Red Sox avoid a sweep. Four more, as Betts makes a much more standard grab for the second out of the inning.
The Red Sox should have been out of the eighth on just five pitches from Addison Reed, but a throw to first sailed high, so now Brian McCann is up with a runner on. McCann didn’t make Reed work at all, however, as one pitch gets the grounder the Sox need to end the top of the inning.
You would think the Astros would use this time to make Reed work too hard to be used for long on Monday, but maybe just making Sunday end as fast as possible is all that matters down 10-3.
Luke Gregerson gets Benintendi to fly out deep to right field on his second pitch. David Cone, if you’re reading: Luke Gregerson is the one who throws a slider.
7th inning
Price is indeed back out on the mound, and the pen is still quiet after 44 pitches. It’s hard to argue against it, considering how he’s pitched: someone like Addison Reed should be able to get warm in a hurry if that changes.
Reddick flies out to shallow left, and we get a replay of Price going to the dugout and avoiding any possible interaction with Farrell that could lead to asking him if he feels like coming out of the game. Looks like pitcher and manager both understand the situation and are trusting each other here.
Someone is finally warming up in the bullpen, though, because Price can’t pitch forever, and he’s starting to miss his spots a bit more. There’s a four-pitch walk to Altuve, so let’s see if the Red Sox try to waste some time to give Addison Reed more time to prepare. Price will at least face Correa, who flies out to the still-busy Betts in right.
Price stays in to face Gonzalez, as his chance to pitch four innings and leave just six outs for Reed and Kimbrel. He’s still missing some spots, but the velocity is there, and the missed spots are at least partially Price being careful with his location — that four-pitch walk to Altuve wasn’t a total accident, you know.
Price strikes out Gonzalez, an exclamation point on a dominant relief appearance that Boston has needed this entire series.
Not to be outdone, Lance McCullers is still out there, and he’s missing his spots, too! A four-pitch walk to Andrew Benintendi, who has looked more like he has to look at the plate as the game has gone on. McCann goes to the mound for a meeting, giving the two arms in the pen time to warm.
Unlike Price, McCullers is just missing everything instead of every few pitches as he fatigues, and Betts singles to right to put two on when a pitch does make it into the zone. AJ Hinch comes out to remove McCullers from the game, and it’ll be Chris Devenski facing Mitch Moreland when play resumes.
Moreland notches hit number three with a single to left, and the bases are now loaded for Ramirez, who is looking for his fourth hit of the day, with no outs. Devenski is having trouble finding the strike zone, and when he finally does, it’s a fastball down the middle that Ramirez doubles up the same way to give Boston a 6-3 lead.
Rafael Devers adds another RBI to his Sunday with a bloop single, and it’s 7-3 Red Sox. Devenski is out in favor of Joe Musgrove, and there still aren’t any outs as Sandy Leon steps to the plate.
The announcers are discussing whether Kimbrel should come in to pitch despite a four-run lead, and it’s this live blogger’s opinion that yes, he should pitch: the Red Sox shouldn’t worry about Monday until they’ve won Sunday, and Kimbrel is their best chance at ensuring there’s a tomorrow. Plus, as our Red Sox blog points out on Twitter:
(plus even if they do hold on to win today there's a decent chance they don't play tomorrow. Forecast looks ugly)
— OverTheMonster (@OverTheMonster) October 8, 2017
Leon makes an out, and Bradley is up with runners at the corners.
What the h*ck did we just see? Jackie Bradley hit a home run into the corner in right field, but only because it rolled out of Josh Reddick’s glove and into the stands. 10-3 Red Sox, so hey, maybe Kimbrel can sit this one out.
6th inning
No matter how many times I hear “man-boosting formula” in a commercial this postseason, it never stops being funny.
Anyway, Price is still in this thing, channeling his inner workhorse, which means the likely plan after Price is to go to Addison Reed and Craig Kimbrel. With potential rain tomorrow, Price, Reed, and Kimbrel could very well have extra time to rest, and if the Red Sox lose? Well, they’ve got all offseason.
Gurriel is aboard with a single, and Brian McCann steps to the plate representing the go-ahead run. He hit a fly ball into the stratosphere, and Betts caught it when it came back down. Betts caught the next out, too, and Price is through three scoreless. It’s worth noting that there still isn’t anyone warming in the Boston bullpen, so maybe Price and Farrell are seeing how long this bridge they’ve got to Reed/Kimbrel is.
McCullers is still rolling, sitting down Jackie Bradley Jr. then striking out Bogaerts before getting Pedroia to weakly tap out. Former starters having success in relief is helping make up for the guys who actually started failing to get outs.
5th inning
This game is over two hours old and we’re in the fifth inning. I’m not sure who the baseball gods are punishing, but they are punishing someone.
The shift has Rafael Devers over where the second baseman is, and he couldn’t get the throw over to first in time to get Reddick out. Now Altuve is up with a runner on, down by one run. Altuve singles, and is now 7-for-10 in the series. He’s the go-ahead run at first, with Carlos Correa coming to the plate.
Correa grounds out, and it’s up to Marwin Gonzalez now — the threat is very much still alive, but one imagines David Price won’t be in the game for much longer given he never worked back up to his starter’s pitch count and appeared in Game 2 as well.
Gonzalez goes down swinging at a pitch low in the zone, and Price is nearly out of this jam. He still has to get past Alex Bregman, though, because the Astros lineup doesn’t end, it just gets back to George Springer.
They’re done for now after a grounder to short, and it’ll be Hanley Ramirez leading things off for Boston in the bottom half. He rocketed a ball off the Monster, leaving him with a single, but he’s looking like he has to if the Red Sox are to have any chance from here on out.
Devers grounds into a double play — it was challenged, but the play was confirmed. He grabbed at his leg after the play, so we’ll have to see if he hurt himself or just stretched a little too far and is feeling it in the short term. Leon strikes out, and McCullers looks a whole lot better this inning than he did an inning ago.
4th inning
David Price replaces Joe Kelly, and just like Rafael Devers getting his first major postseason moment with Boston last inning, here’s Price’s chance to turn around the narrative.
Price has an easy time of it, even as the announcers repeatedly attempt to revive the Eck vs. Price feud from this summer that I refuse to do the same with, and the Red Sox not only have a lead, but hold onto it heading into the bottom of the fourth.
Liriano’s day is already over, as Lance McCullers enters the game for Houston. McCullers was in the Astros’ rotation, but a rough second half and injuries pushed him out of the postseason rotation, and now he’s making his first-ever relief appearance in the bigs. He gets the first out despite the ball hitting him in the leg and the high throw after, and the trainer is out to check on him.
A.J. Pierzynski is discussing how throwing tons of curveballs is the style of the time, and no one threw a higher percentage of them than McCullers. Unlike Rich Hill, though, McCullers only throws the one curve — “as hard as he can,” says Pierzynski — whereas Hill throws all kinds of curves to keep opponents from catching on. You might not like Pierzynski the player, but Pierzynski the commentator seems like he knows his stuff. Meanwhile, David Cone swears it’s a slider, and won’t stop calling it a slider.
Benintendi had a nice piece of hitting that Correa nearly kept from being a hit, but then he threw it away, and now Betts is up with a runner on second. Betts doesn’t swing at ball four this time, and there are two on with two outs. It ends up not mattering, as McCullers gets out of trouble to end the frame.
3rd inning
Speed things up this inning, guys, we’ve crossed the 1,000 word mark far too early in this game.
Altuve got a hit, and then Correa hit into a double play. Much better, moving things along. Now the Red Sox are here to ruin it by wasting time with a mound meeting so David Price can have more time to warm up in the bullpen. This isn’t part of the plan, Boston, get with the program.
Mookie makes an over-the-shoulder grab to end the inning in deep right, and those are cheers of his name, not boos that you’re hearing. Two innings in a row, the Astros have been held scoreless. It’s possible after all!
Benintendi is now 1-10 in this series after striking out on what was absolutely ball four. Home plate ump Ted Barrett is already making things pretty pitcher-friendly, Red Sox: you don’t need to donate any additional help with poor decisions.
As I was typing that, Betts swung at ball four to strike out. Nobody listens to me.
Mitch Moreland would have had a home run if he had hit it anywhere else in Fenway, but this fly ball went to the deepest part of the park in center, and it’s a two-run double instead. George Springer had no idea what he was doing, but Josh Reddick used to play Fenway all the time, and was ready to back Springer up and hold Moreland to a double.
There’s action in the Astros’ bullpen: they aren’t going to loosen the noose just because they’re already up 2-0 in the series. And hey, they probably shouldn’t, because Hanley Ramirez just followed Moreland’s double with his own, and now the Sox are only down by one. 3-2, Houston. That’s the afternoon for Peacock, who is replaced by lefty Francisco Liriano to face lefty Rafael Devers.
And Devers goes deep, because he can hit lefties and Liriano is... not good. The Red Sox have their first lead of the series, which, even if they end up losing this game, is key for avoiding historic embarrassment. No, really:
Red Sox have a chance to make history: No team has ever trailed for all 27 innings in a Division Series sweep.
— Tim Britton (@TimBritton) October 8, 2017
And Sandy Leon is now on first with a long single. Still two outs, but the Red Sox have come alive. Bradley follows up with his own laser, but it’s grabbed by Gurriel, and the inning is over.
2nd inning
Will Doug Fister be better in the second inning?
[Astros quickly put two runners on with no outs and now Brian McCann is up] ah.
Hey, Fister got an out! It’s still first and second, and Fister’s day is over already. Here comes right-hander Joe Kelly after a lengthy warmup.
Kelly finally was in the bullpen without any final attempts at making him work as a starter, and he managed a 164 ERA+ over 58 innings. Control is still an issue, but it was easier to put up with that and stretches of iffy command when he was only expected to pitch an inning instead of five or six.
Kelly gets tagged with a wild pitch, but that was probably a passed ball on Sandy Leon, who made things worse by not quickly going after the loose ball. Runners at second and third now, eliminating the easy double play Kelly was called in for. That becomes even more noticeable when a grounder is hit to short, and Boston can only get the one out, bringing up Josh Reddick with two in scoring position.
Mookie Betts just kept it from going to 6-0 by reaching over the short wall in right field and robbing Josh Reddick of a three-run blast. The Red Sox still have a lot of work left, but that’s a start.
The Red Sox kick off the bottom of the second with a pair of singles, and now Rafael Devers, 0-for-5 in the series so far, is up with a chance to make this game closer. Devers can hit secondary pitches despite his youth, but the 20-year-old has had issues with high fastballs, which the Astros keep throwing him as often as possible.
Peacock is aiming fastballs low and inside to Devers, though, so it’s possible he’s afraid of missing high, or the Astros don’t want to mess with that sort of potential issue with runners on. Peacock fell behind 3-0, got it back to 3-2 thanks to a gift call low in the zone, but then walks Devers to load the bases with no outs and bring up catcher Sandy Leon.
Leon dumps a single into left, and the Red Sox are on the board! 3-1 Houston, but the bases are still loaded, and there still aren’t any outs. Now, it’s Jackie Bradley Jr.’s turn. The strike zone seemed a little wide here, and Bradley had to chase a pitch outside to compensate. One down, and now the top of Boston’s lineup is back up.
Bogaerts grounds to first, and the Astros toss it home to keep the run from scoring. Two down, still 3-1, and you can hear the disgruntled murmurs in the crowd once more. Pedroia flies out to left, and that’s all the Sox get.
1st inning
If the Astros win today, they’ll make it to their first-ever ALCS. That’s a bit misleading, though, since the Astros only came over to the American League in 2013. However, it would still be their first League Championship Series since 2005, when they earned their way to the first World Series in franchise history — which they lost to the White Sox — so the Astros are due regardless of which league they’re in or how you want to measure things.
Doug Fister pitched for the Astros in 2016 and it didn’t go so well, but some mechanical adjustments helped him become a key part of Boston’s rotation down the stretch this summer. He is facing a lineup that just made Chris Sale and Drew Pomeranz look awful, though, and the Astros kicked things started the game off with two hits and a run so... this is going to be a long afternoon for one fan base. 1-0 Astros.
Jose Altuve enters Game 3 5-for-7 with three homers in the series so far. They don’t have an ALDS MVP, but if they did, it sure feels like it’d be Altuve’s trophy. Oh never mind he just grounded out with a runner in scoring position it’s anyone’s game once again.
Such as, oh, Carlos Correa, who just went deep to make it 3-0 Astros. You would think there would be more cheering at a public execution, but at least the lack of silence means this isn’t a funeral yet.
Joe Kelly is already warming in Boston’s bullpen. Xander Bogaerts just made a fully extended dive toward second and followed it up with a strong throw to record the second out, which got a genuine positive response from the crowd. We’re not in sarcastic cheering territory yet! Fister closes out the inning, so now the Astros have only scored seven first-inning runs in this series.
Here’s Brad Peacock, who always pitches from the stretch, and quietly had a high-quality season for the Astros. Peacock spent a chunk of 2017 in the bullpen so he made just 21 starts, but in those starts, he compiled a 3.22 ERA, 111 innings, and struck out just under 11 batters per nine innings. The Red Sox put the ball in play regularly, so we’ll see how this battle of styles plays out. In the first inning, Boston got one hit, but Peacock kept it from turning into anything.