Astros win; move on to ALCS.
LOS ANGELES — Three years after a sign-stealing scheme propelled the Astros to their first championship, Houston’s star-studded lineup did little during the regular season to quiet criticism it could only hit when cheating.
Back in the postseason, they’re banging away as well as ever — no trash cans necessary.
Carlos Correa hit a goahead, three-run homer after Michael Brantley’s tworun shot in the fourth inning, helping the Astros beat the Oakland Athletics 11-6 on Thursday to clinch their home-run heavy AL Division Series in four games.
The Astros and A’s combined for 24 homers — 12 each — the most in a postseason series of five games or fewer.
Brantley followed his fourth-inning homer with a solo shot in the fifth, and Jose Altuve added a two-run blast in the seventh for good measure.
“We didn’t show this too much during the season, but this lineup can do this every night,” left fielder Kyle Tucker said.
Correa drove in five as the Astros — October villains to many a year after their espionage was exposed — advanced to the AL Championship
Houston wins series 3-1 G1: Astros 10, Athletics 5 G2: Astros 5, Athletics 2 G3: Athletics 9, Astros 7 G4: Astros 11, Athletics 6
Series for the fourth consecutive season. They improved to 5-1 in the playoffs after struggling to a 29-31 record in the pandemicshortened season.
“This is a special team that has been here before,” Brantley said. “We have young guys that are leaning on the veterans, and the veterans are taking care of them right now. No one guy has to carry this team when you have so many special players in the locker room like we do.”
It will be the Astros’ first ALCS under Dusty Baker, their 71-year-old manager. Baker earned his first closeout win since the 2003 NL Division Series and improved to 4-13 in closeouts.
“It’s been a long, tough road, but we’re halfway there,” Baker said.
Semien ss La Stella 2b Pinder 3b Davis dh Olson 1b Canha rf Laureano cf Grossman lf Murphy c
Springer cf-rf Altuve 2b Brantley dh Bregman 3b Tucker lf Correa ss Gurriel 1b Reddick rf Straw cf c (1). (2), La Stella (1). 4 5 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 3 5 4 5 4 5 3 0 3 1 0 0 0 1 1 2 1 0 0 3 3 2 1 1 0 0 0 1 2 2 0 0 1 1 2 2 1 1 1 3 2 3 3 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 2 3 0 1 5 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 3 4 2 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 3 .533 .313 .308 .250 .214 .200 .200 .300 .143 .389 .400 .368 .400 .412 .500 .067 .182 --Maldonado .143 7, Houston 8.
2 (2), off Greinke; Brantley (1), off Montas; Correa (3), off Montas; Brantley (2), off Wendelken; Altuve (2), off Diekman.
4 (4), Semien (2), La Stella (2), Brantley 3 (5), Correa 5 (11), Tucker (2), Altuve 2 (5).
4 (Semien, Canha, Davis); Houston 4 (Springer, Altuve, Maldonado, Gurriel). 4 for 9; Houston 4 for 12.
Reddick. Stella. Gurriel.
2 (Semien, La Stella, Olson; Pinder, La Stella); Houston 1 (Altuve, Gurriel, Altuve).
Montas, L, 0-1 Wendelken Minor Trivino Soria Diekman Mcfarland
Greinke Taylor Javier, W, 1-0 Paredes Pressly 4 1 1 1 1
h7 1 2 0 3 1 0
h5 0 3 0 3
r5 2 0 0 2 2 0
r4 0 0 0 2
5 2 0 0 2 2 0
4 0 0 0 2
1 1 1 0 1 0 1
1 0 0 0 1
3 0 0 1 0 2 1
71 15 13 4 25 19 23
12.27 18.00 0.00 4.50 9.00 6.00 0.00
4 76 7.71 0 1 0.00 4 43 0.00 1 7 0.00 1 32 6.00 2-0, Minor 1-1,
(Maldonado),
Trivino 2-0, Taylor 1-0, Paredes 2-0. Javier (Davis). (0).
Laz Diaz; First, Ron Kulpa; Second, Adrian Johnson; Third, Tripp Gibson; Right, Jerry Meals; Left, Ed Hickox.