FIRST WARNING SIGN
In the eighth inning, the Red Sox put a crack in Astros’ window of opportunity to repeat
The Astros lost three consecutive games to New York, froze at the plate and temporarily cracked at Yankee Stadium in last season’s American League Championship Series.
A.J. Hinch’s club was down 3-2 in the ALCS a year ago … and won the World Series on the road during the final day of the baseball season.
So, yes, suddenly tense Houstonians, the 2018 Astros can come back from this.
Boston 8-2 on Tuesday in Game 3 of the ALCS at Minute Maid Park. The Red Sox taking a 2-1 series lead on a bad day for Houston’s professional baseball team and a horrible inning for controversial “closer” Roberto Osuna.
They are resilient and supremely confident. They’ve been perfecting the calm-and-cool thing the last two seasons.
“There’s no pouting around here. There’s no panic,” said Hinch, after a Jackie Bradley Jr. eighth-inning grand slam off Osuna had Astros fans streaming for the exits.
But the local ballpark was oddly subdued all game. Alex Bregman is the only Astro putting on a show. And this is also true three games into this ALCS: Boston has been the better team and Hinch’s Astros are in trouble for the first time since they were one loss away from their season ending in last year’s ALCS.
Correa, Gurriel struggling
Carlos Correa and Yuli Gurriel are barely making contact. Boston’s bullpen was supposed to be the lone weakness in an October meeting between two teams with 211 combined victories; Astros relievers gave up six runs Tuesday. Two of Hinch’s starters (Gerrit Cole, Dallas Keuchel) were outpitched by the competition and Justin Verlander wasn’t his dominant self in Game 1.
Take away a four-run ninth at Fenway Park in the initial contest and this has been Boston’s series.
Is Game 4 a classic must-win? Technically, no.
But even Hinch’s 103-win team will be tested if it becomes 3-1 Red Sox, with the final two potential contests booked back at the home of “Sweet Caroline.”
“It’s a 3-2 ballgame until all hell broke loose in the eighth inning,” said Hinch, perfectly summing up a chaotic period that saw Osuna give up two singles, hit two batters and deliver a 1-1, 94 mph fastball Bradley torched.
Hinch’s bullpen decisions will get the fiery talk-radio treatment. If you hated the Astros’ tradedeadline acquisition of Osuna, the eighth inning felt like instant karma. But the Astros are down 2-1 to a 108-win team because they’re simply getting beat.
“I do feel that (the) ALDS, we grew up as a team going to Game 3,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “The sky was falling in Boston, it seems like all of a sudden we weren’t good. And they put a great game in Game 3, finished the job in Game 4.
“Coming to this environment, it’s not easy to win here. This is a place that they feed off the crowd. They’re very comfortable here offensively and to show up (Tuesday) and play the way we did, I’m very proud of them.”
Baseball’s reigning champs played sloppy baseball at Fenway; Hinch acknowledged the fact. Game 2 was a blown opportunity. Game 3 before 43,102 in mostly orange and blue was proof Boston has the upper hand.
Eight Red Sox batters recorded hits. The Astros are being carried by Bregman, and the rest of the lineup isn’t backing up the brilliant third baseman’s cocky social-media posts.
Clutch hits lacking
“It’s just frustrating because we want to give ourselves as many opportunities,” said Hinch, whose team went 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base. “(Nathan) Eovaldi had something to do with us not being able to get a two-out hit. But you feel like if you give yourself enough opportunities, something’s going to go your way. … (Tuesday), not as much. We had some times where we felt like we had them on the ropes; maybe we chase them out of the game.”
The Astros simply chased, striking out eight times compared to three for Boston. They also lacked the swagger that’s so often defined this team since 2015 and captured their recent ALDS sweep of Cleveland.
After the second consecutive win for the best regular-season team in Boston history, Hinch kept mentioning the time.
“At 7:39 (Wednesday) night, we'll be ready to play,” he said. They have no other choice. Jose Altuve went 2-for-3 but was forced into a designatedhitter role due to injury. Correa and Gurriel, two of the Astros’ most-trusted hitters a season ago, are a combined 8-for-44 (.181 average) in these playoffs.
Morton a question mark
Charlie Morton was one of baseball’s best secrets in 2017, but enters Game 4 as a starting question mark — Hinch said before Game 3 he might have to go to his pen early, and that was before Osuna was blasted.
Boston put up 16 runs at Yankee Stadium last week and Cora has made the right moves in this series after losing Round 1 .
The Astros won a World Series by overcoming so much. One of the most reliable assets of Hinch’s club has been that the moment it is doubted, it fires back and wins you over again. Remember 3-2 Yankees?
Los Angeles 1-0, then dropping Game 6 and having to win a final, defining Game 7 of the World Series beneath Dodger Stadium’s shining lights?
This is a 2-1 deficit in a sevengame series. But the Astros stumbled through Game 2 and were hammered at home in 3. If they keep losing like this, their back-toback tour is ending in the ALCS.