• SMITH: MISSED OPPORTUNITY. C3
Astros had Red Sox hung out to dry, but Bradley, miscues turn it into a series again
BOSTON — David Price was shaky in October. The Astros had silenced Fenway Park again.
A 2-0 series lead was in sight, with the next three games at roaring Minute Maid Park in downtown Houston.
Then the Astros let it go. From 4-2 road team to 7-5 Red Sox on Sunday night in Game 2 of this American League Championship Series. The first postseason defeat for A.J. Hinch’s 2018 team, which played sloppy baseball for a second consecutive night.
“We could have played a little cleaner,” Astros reliever Lance McCullers Jr. said. “They could have played a little bit cleaner. It’s the ALCS, man. It’s big-time stuff. We won the first game, which was huge. Of course, you want to win the second game. We were close. We had our opportunities.”
Game 1 was a two-sided mess that ended up as a classic 7-2 Astros playoff win, thanks to a four-run ninth inning. Game 2 was a perfect opportunity for Hinch’s club.
Price, Boston’s beleaguered starter, forced to try to prove himself again to Red Sox fans constantly questioning his worth. Gerrit Cole firing for the Astros, the night after Justin Verlander recorded another postseason W.
Cole had seemingly worked through his October woes and dominated the mound in the recent AL Division Series, allowing three hits and one run while striking out 12 in seven innings during a sharp win versus Cleveland.
Then the 108-win Red Sox — damaging and efficient — came to life just in time for Game 2.
It took Cole 25 pitches to make it through the first inning. It was 2-0 Boston while Fenway was still filling up. Throw in a stunning throwing error and the Red Sox instantly changed the second game of the series.
“I thought he was a little overamped,” Hinch said. “He was pretty excited. A lot of energy. Wasn’t making a ton of pitches.”
The real Astros briefly appeared. From 2-0 to 2-all. In the third, Hinch’s team attacked Price again, taking an electric 4-2 lead when Marwin Gonzalez pushed Price to 3-2, then blasted a 92 mph fastball over the Green Monster and off a green billboard.
“Let’s go boys!” was yelled on a TV broadcast capturing the Astros’ roaring dugout.
Hinch’s team had again shocked Fenway and it felt like 2-0 road team in the ALCS was a real possibility. Price, wavering, on the mound. The supremely confident Astros rallying again and approaching the midway point of Game 2.
Cue the missed opportunity. Cole was off again in the third. Bases loaded with two outs and No. 8 hitter Jackie Bradley Jr. at the plate became a three-run double into the left-field corner, after Bradley lifted a 97 mph fastball out of Gonzalez’s reach.
The Astros’ left fielder had gone down earlier in the inning, slamming into Fenway’s famed wall while failing to glove a Steve Pearce double. The Red Sox kept hitting Cole hard in one of his worst starts of 2018. The off night came at the worst time.
Entering Game 2, every Astros fan in the world would have taken a 4-2 lead against the Red Sox with Price struggling to hold on. But by the sixth, it was 5-4 Boston, even though Price had exited the game and the Astros were the first team to get into the other’s bullpen.
“It wasn’t the line I dreamed up to have tonight,” said Price, who entered the contest 2-9 with a 5.28 career ERA in the postseason. “But our offense, our defense, everybody rallied together. That’s what we’ve done all year.”
Still, Cole held on. The Red Sox pounded the board for five runs during the initial three innings. Cole put up zeros from the fourth through sixth, finding the touch that initially eluded the Astros’ No. 2 starter. The one-run game and potential for another late breakout remained.
“The line’s going to indicate a little bit tougher on him than he pitched,” Hinch said. “I thought he found it at the end.”
McCullers took over for Cole, who allowed six hits and five runs (four earned) in six off-andon innings.
Hinch started Martin Maldonado, a trade-deadline acquisition, at catcher for his defense in Games 1 and 2. By the time it was 6-4 Boston, Mookie Betts had scored via a walk, wild pitch and two passed balls, crossing the plate without a Red Sox hit. Add two wild pitches in Game 1 — one on a pitcher-catcher mixup — and the Astros were again hurting themselves.
“One I got crossed up, the other I just straight missed it,” said Maldonado, referring to the two passed balls in the seventh.
Jose Altuve, Yuli Gurriel, Josh Reddick and Gonzalez were off at the plate at Fenway. Alex Bregman walked six times and didn’t record a hit.
Just before Boston recorded its seventh run, Betts was showered with an "MVP" chant.
It could have been 2-0 reigning champs, with the Astros returning to Houston for a potential sweep. Now, this ALCS between two teams with 211 combined wins should become a series.
“Going back 1-1, at home, we’ve got our big man (Dallas Keuchel) on the mound,” McCullers said. “We’ve got Charlie (Morton) feeling great, coming up for Game 4. And then we recycle. I think we’re in a great spot going home.”
The Astros must play sharper baseball at their home park.