Red Sox hold on for 3-1 lead
Left fielder Andrew Benintendi made a diving catch with the bases loaded for the final out, and the Red Sox held off the Astros 8-6 on Wednesday night to take a 3-1 lead in the AL Championship Series.
Boosted by a questionable fan interference call early in a back-andforth game and a go-ahead homer from Jackie Bradley Jr., the Red Sox moved within one victory of their first World Series trip since winning the 2013 title.
Craig Kimbrel earned a shaky six-out save, aided by a rocket throw from right fielder Mookie Betts and Benintendi’s daring grab of Alex Bregman’s sinking liner in left.
Boston improved to 4-0 on the road in these playoffs and inched closer to eliminating the defending champions.
Sale won’t pitch in Game 5
Red Sox ace Chris Sale still was feeling weak Wednesday and won’t start Game 5 of the American League Championship Series.
Sale threw in the outfield for 1015 minutes before Game 4 in Houston, but manager Alex Cora said he didn’t throw a bullpen session as planned.
Cora said the lanky lefty ace still was feeling weak and had lost some weight because of a stomach illness that forced him to spend a night in a hospital after he started the ALCS opener against the Astros.
Dave Dombrowski, the team’s president of baseball operations, said Sale told him that “he’s fine, and he’ll be ready to go on Saturday.”
MLB: Astros didn’t spy
After an investigation into two incidents this postseason, MLB said that the Astros were conducting surveillance — not spying — when a credentialed Astros employee was pointing his cellphone into the visitor’s dugouts during playoff games in Cleveland and Boston.
The Red Sox had been warned ahead of the series about the Astros employee, who was near Cleveland’s dugout for several innings on Oct. 8 before he was removed by security.
On Wednesday, MLB issued a two-paragraph statement saying its department of investigations did a thorough probe and determined “that an Astros employee was monitoring the field to ensure that the opposing club was not violating any rules.” MLB has instructed all clubs still in the playoffs “to refrain from these types of efforts.”
MLB went on to say it considers “the matter closed.”