BRADLEY’S 3-RUN DOUBLE KEYS WIN
RED SOX EVEN AL SERIES ON HOME TURF
Jackie Bradley Jr. hit a goahead, bases-clearing double with two outs in the third inning, and the Boston Red Sox evened the American League Championship Series at one game apiece with a 7-5 victory over the visiting Houston Astros on Sunday night.
Game 3 is Tuesday in Houston. Andrew Benintendi and Rafael Devers had RBI singles in the opening inning off Gerrit Cole (0-1) before Bradley’s key hit two innings later.
“I mean, he’s been doing that for a while,” Boston manager Alex Cora said of Bradley. “Got to the point during the season that we had to actually take him out of the lineup for three, four, five days during the week – actually right before we went to Houston.
“And he worked on his craft. He found a few things that he really liked about his swing. Seems like now he understands who he is as a hitter. There’s not too many hard-hit ground balls into his shift. He’s staying through it.”
Mookie Betts scored on Benintendi’s hit and also scored an insurance run in the seventh on the second passed ball of the inning by catcher Martin Maldonado. He added an RBI double in the eighth off Hector Rondon.
Houston’s George Springer extended his postseason hitting streak to 11 games with two hits, including a two-run double. Marwin Gonzalez hit a two-run homer for the Astros, who host the next three games after losing for the first time in this year’s postseason.
Boston left-hander David Price remained winless as a starter in the postseason. In his 11th career playoff start, he allowed four runs on five hits in 4 2/3 innings. Price exited to a nice hand from the crowd after issuing two walks in the fifth, and it was the first time his team won any of his postseason starts.
“It wasn’t the line I dreamed up to have tonight, but our offense, our defense, everybody rallied together,” Price said. “That’s what we’ve done all year. Whenever starters needed to be picked up, they picked us up and vice versa. So that was big.”
Matt Barnes followed Price by getting the next four outs. Ryan Brasier retired Yuli Gurriel with tying run on base to end a scoreless seventh, and Rick Porcello struck out two in a perfect eighth.
Red Sox closer Craig Kimbrel allowed a two-out double to Springer in the ninth. Springer took third on a wild pitch and scored on Jose Altuve’s single off the Green Monster, but Kimbrel got the save when Benintendi made a twisting catch in front of the wall on Alex Bregman’s fly ball to left.
Cole allowed five runs (four earned) on six hits in six innings.
“I thought he was a little overamped,” Houston manager A.J. Hinch said of Cole. “He was pretty excited. A lot of energy. Wasn’t making a ton of pitches. And then he found it . ... The line’s going to (look) a little bit tougher on him than he pitched.”