That’s 1 for Sale, Red Sox
Chris Sale struck out eight for his first postseason win, J.D. Martinez hit a three-run homer and the Red Sox sweated out their shaky bullpen to hold off the Yankees 5-4 on Friday night in Game 1 of their American League Division Series in Boston.
One year after he was pounded by the Astros in his playoff debut, Sale took a four-hit shutout into the sixth inning. The Yankees loaded the bases in the sixth and seventh, cutting the deficit to 5-3. Aaron Judge homered off Red Sox closer Craig Kimbrel leading off the ninth before Kimbrel retired the next three batters, striking out Giancarlo Stanton and Luke Voit for the save.
Game 2 in the best-of-five series is Saturday night, with the Red Sox starting another pitcher trying to overcome a history of postseason struggles. Left-hander David Price is 0-8 as a starter in the playoffs. He’ll face Yankees righty Masahiro Tanaka.
In the first playoff matchup between the longtime rivals since 2004, the 108-win Red Sox took a 5-0 lead against Yankees starter J.A. Happ and then white-knuckled it after Sale left with two on and one out in the sixth.
The Yankees, who won 100 regular-season games plus the AL wildcard game against the Athletics, got three singles and two walks in the sixth, scoring two before Brandon Workman — the only player on the Red Sox roster with a World Series ring — struck out Gleyber Torres to end the threat.
The Yankees loaded the bases with nobody out in the seventh but scored just one run. Red Sox manager Alex Cora used scheduled Game 3 starter Rick Porcello to get two outs in the eighth before turning to Kimbrel.
Astros 7, Indians 2
George Springer, Jose Altuve and Alex Bregman are all hitting home runs again in October, and it helped the Astros to their first postseason win of 2018.
A year after launching a World Series-record 15 homers in winning their first championship, the Astros picked up right where they left off, hitting four home runs to power past the Indians in Game 1 of their AL Division Series in Houston.
Martin Maldonado also connected for the Astros, who didn’t waste any time displaying the same power that carried them to last year’s title.
“As much as I’ve heard different opinions about our offense, it’s pretty long, it’s pretty good, it’s pretty potent,” manager AJ Hinch said. “Case in point today.”
The Astros’ pop backed up a solid start by Justin Verlander, who bested Corey Kluber in a matchup of Cy Young Award-winning aces in the first postseason meeting between these teams. Verlander took a no-hitter into the sixth and got his 12th playoff win. He allowed two hits and two runs in 5„ innings; the Indians finished with only three hits, all singles.
Kluber, a two-time Cy Young winner who was coming off his first 20-win season, was tagged for three home runs in 4‰ innings. It was a repeat performance from last October’s ALDS, when he made two starts against the Yankees and left with a 12.79 ERA.