A STEAMROLLER
Red Sox win seven of nine games against hated rivals and the defending champs
ALDS: BOSTON VS. NEW YORK
Highlights: In the first playoff matchup between the teams since 2004, J.D. Martinez hit a three-run home run off of J.A. Happ in the first inning, and the Red Sox later extended their lead to 5-0 before outlasting a Yankees rally. The Yankees loaded the bases with nobody out in the seventh but scored just one run. Boston manager Alex Cora used Rick Porcello, scheduled to start Game 3, to get two outs in the eighth before bringing in closer Craig Kimbrel to finish off New York. Red Sox starter Chris Sale gave up two runs and struck out eight in 5 2⁄3 innings.
Quote: “There’s no holding back now. It’s everything on the table, everything you’ve got. I threw every pitch tonight like he was going to take the ball out of my hand after. You have to go up there and do what you have to do to get a win.” — Chris Sale.
Highlights: David Price fell to 0-9 in 10 postseason starts and was booed off the field after five outs by the Fenway Park crowd. Aaron Judge hit a 445-foot home run that landed in the back row of seats above the Green Monster. A little later, Gary Sanchez hit one over the back row of seats and onto the street behind the stadium. It was Sanchez’s second homer of the game. Price gave up three runs and three hits and walked two in 1 2⁄3 innings.
Quote: “I just want to win. That’s it. My main goal is to win in the playoffs, to win a World Series . ... And whatever I need to do to help us do that, I’m fine with. But I know I’m more than capable of winning games as a starter in October. That’s what I look forward to doing.” — David Price.
Highlights: Andrew Benintendi lined a three-run double and Brock Holt, who hit for the cycle in the game, tripled home two more in a seven-run fourth inning that turned the game into a rout. It was the Yankees’ worst loss in 396 postseason games. Holt opened the fourth with a single off Luis Severino and hit his triple later that inning. He also doubled home a run in the eighth and homered off of Yankees backup catcher Andrew Romine in the ninth.
Quote: “You get a little antsy when a position player is on the mound. I told everyone, ‘Get me up. I need a home run for a cycle.’ I scooted up in the box a little bit, and I was going to be swinging at anything and try to hook anything. Obviously, you don’t expect to hit a home run, but I was trying to. I was trying to hit a home run. That’s probably the first time I’ve ever tried to do that. I rounded the bases, and seeing everyone going nuts in the dugout was a pretty cool moment for me.” — Brock Holt Highlights: Rick Porcello held the Yankees to one run over five innings for his first postseason win in 13 appearances. Boston closer Craig Kimbrel came into the game to start the ninth with a 4-1 lead. He walked Aaron Judge, then gave up a single to Didi Gregorius. Giancarlo Stanton struck out, and Kimbrel walked Luke Voit, then hit Neil Walker with a pitch, which made it 4-2. Gary Sanchez hit a fly ball to the warning track to score a run, then ended the game by getting Gleyber Torres to ground to third. Only the play was so close, the Yankees asked for a review. Sixty-three seconds later, the verdict came: He was out, and the Red Sox were going to the ALCS.
Quote: “I’ve been talking about them the whole season, so now we go. Best of seven. They know me. I know them. It should be fun.” — Red Sox manager Alex Cora, who was Houston’s bench coach in 2017.
ALCS: BOSTON VS. HOUSTON GAME 1 HOUSTON 7, BOSTON 2
Highlights: Justin Verlander pitched six innings of two-hit ball, and the Astros scored four runs in the ninth to pull away from the Red Sox. Josh Reddick hit a solo homer to lead off the ninth, and Yuli Gurriel hit a three-run homer later in the inning. The Astros got only one hit off of Chris Sale, but, pitching in temperatures in the low 40s, he walked two and hit a batter to load the bases with two out in the second before giving up a two run-single to George Springer.
Quote: “I still like our chances. We’ve got [David Price] on the mound and we got a bunch of guys in here that are fired up over tonight. We’re not gonna hang our heads in the locker room. We’re not gonna give up. This is the time when we kick in gear and start fighting.” — Chris Sale, after the game.
GAME 2 BOSTON 7, HOUSTON 5
Highlights: David Price was spotted a two-run lead in the first inning and then fell behind 4-2. The Astros tied it in the second on George Springer’s two-run double down the right-field line. Marwin Gonzalez hit a two-run homer in the third. But Boston came back in the bottom half against Gerrit Cole. Xander Bogaerts had a one-out single and then Steve Pearce doubled off the Green Monster. The next batter walked, and Jackie Bradley Jr. hit a three-run double to put Boston back in the lead for good.
Quote: “Not really catching a break with it rolling on this awkward piece of padding all the way down was unfortunate. But you put yourself in that position.” — Gerrit Cole, on Jackie Bradley Jr.’s double.
GAME 3 BOSTON 8, HOUSTON 2
Highlights: Jackie Bradley Jr.’s grand slam backed a solid start by Nathan Eovaldi. Steve Pearce hit a tiebreaking homer off of Joe Smith in the sixth. Bradley’s slam capped a five-run outburst in the eighth against Astros closer Roberto Osuna, who got two out but allowed two singles and hit consecutive batters to force in a run. Bradley then crushed a fastball into the right-field seats. Eovaldi gave up six hits and two runs with four strikeouts in six innings for the win, a day after Alex Bregman of the Astros had shared a video on Instagram of Houston hitting back-to-back-to-back home runs off Eovaldi in June.
Quote: “It’s a credit to him, because at this level, when you’re hitting .180 after two months, or I think it was three months, it is hard. And he kept showing up. He kept working. He kept working his craft. Now you see the results.” — Alex Cora on Jackie Bradley Jr., who got off to a slow start this season.
GAME 4 BOSTON 8, HOUSTON 6
Highlights: Andrew Benintendi made a diving play in left field with the bases loaded for the final out in a game that was dominated early by a controversial interference call. Jose Altuve was denied a potential two-run homer in the first inning and called out after a replay review ruled that fans reaching for the ball interfered with Mookie Betts’ attempt at a leaping catch.
Quote: “Jose pays the biggest price, because the trajectory of the ball looked like it was going to leave the ballpark. Changed that whole inning.” — Astros manager A.J. Hinch, on the interference call.
GAME 5 BOSTON 4, HOUSTON 1
Highlights: Pitching on only three days’ rest, David Price struck out nine and gave up three hits in six shutout innings. Coming into the game, Price was 0-9 with a 6.16 ERA in 11 postseason starts. Rafael Devers had a threerun homer for Boston. Devers, who turns 22 on Wednesday, has 12 RBIs in 10 postseason games, joining Mickey Mantle, Andruw Jones and Miguel Cabrera as the only players in major league history to have nine or more RBIs in the postseason at age 21 or younger.
Quote: “That’s awesome. I don’t have to prepare myself for it in spring training on Feb. 20 or September when I’ve still got five regular-season starts. I don’t have to answer that question anymore. And man, it feels good.” — Price, on finally winning a postseason start.