Red Sox close deal, save Sale

BOSTON — The hard chopper bounced off first baseman Mitch Moreland’s glove and high into the air. Second baseman Brock Holt jumped to glove the ball and flipped it to first, where David Price was covering.

When the Boston Red Sox needed him, Price was there.

The one-time ace came out of the bullpen in relief of Drew Pomeranz and squelched a dangerous seventh-inning rally on Saturday, helping the Red Sox clinch the first back-to-back American League East titles in franchise history and avoid a possible tiebreaker against the rival New York Yankees with a 6-3 win.

“That was important: Just get it done today,” outfielder Hanley Ramirez said afterward in the Red Sox clubhouse, where music blared, the lockers were covered in plastic and players wore goggles to protect their eyes from the spray of beer and sparkling wine.

With the Boston victory, the Yankees were left with a wild-card spot and a onegame matchup against the Minnesota Twins for the right to play Cleveland in the best-of-five AL Division Series. The Astros loss meant the Indians, with the tiebreaker over Houston and 101 victories entering Saturday, clinched the best record in the AL.

Boston’s victory set up an immediate rematch with the AL West champion Astros in the ALDS, starting Thursday in Houston.

“This is a good team across the way. We’re a good team. We’re both division champions,” Astros Manager A.J. Hinch said. “We’ll obviously see a lot of each other over the next 10 days.”

Boston leads New York by two games with one to play, the remnants of what had been a five-game lead when the Red Sox returned to Fenway Park for a season-ending homestand. A loss Saturday — coupled with the Yankees’ 2-1 victory over Toronto — would have forced Boston to use Chris Sale on the final day of the season to avoid a tiebreaker Monday.

The AL East had not needed a onegame

playoff since Bucky Dent’s home run cleared the Green Monster to help the Yankees eliminate Boston in 1978.

“We get a chance to get a couple of days rest,” said Manager John Farrell, who scratched Sale from today’s start and said Hector Velazquez will pitch instead. “Chris is deserving of a couple of extra days to just get some rest.”

Mookie Betts homered and scored three times, and Pomeranz (17-6) had a two-hit shutout through six innings. With a heavy rain beginning to fall in the top of the seventh, the Astros rallied against Carson Smith and made it 5-2 before Price came in.