Astros beat Red Sox on Correa homer
HOUSTON — Carlos Correa paused a few seconds at the plate, tapping the spot on his wrist where a watch would be, after hitting a tiebreaking home run in the seventh inning that propelled the Houston Astros over the Boston Red Sox 5-4 Friday night in the AL Championship Series opener.
“It’s my time,” he screamed before trotting around the bases.
That it is.
And if his time with the Astros runs out at the end of this season, the star shortstop sure is making this an October to remember.
Correa teamed with Jose Altuve to do just enough to overcome the heroics of Kiké Hernández, who starred with his bat and glove for the wildcard Red Sox.
Altuve tied the game with a two-run shot in the sixth before Correa connected off losing pitcher Hansel Robles with two outs in the seventh to put the Astros ahead 4-3.
Correa, who has been with the Astros since being selected first overall in 2012, becomes a free agent at season’s end and it seems likely that he won’t remain in Houston.
Correa has a history of big hits for Houston that includes 18 postseason home runs, several of them in key, late situations.
“Playoff time, baby,” Correa said.
“We want to be in the spotlight,” he said. “We want to be in the moment.”
Hernández, who won a World Series with the Dodgers last year, homered twice among his four hits and likely saved multiple runs with two terrific catches.
His second homer came off closer Ryan Pressly to start the ninth and cut the lead to 5-4. But Pressly retired the next three batters to get the save.
Game 2 is today in Houston.
Ahead 4-3, the Astros loaded the bases with no outs in the eighth when Hirokazu Sawamura plunked Martín Maldonado. Houston added some insurance when Yuli Gurriel slid in just before the tag to score on a sacrifice fly by Altuve that made it 5-3, beating a terrific throw by Hernandez.
Hernández has been red hot for the Red Sox this October, with 13 hits in his last four games to set an MLB record for most hits in a fourgame span in one postseason. He passed Billy Hatcher (1999), Marquis Grissom (1995), Hideki Matsui (2004) and Randy Arozarena (2020), who all had 11.
“Enrique is en fuego,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said.
Chas Mccormick singled with one out in the sixth before Altuve became the fourth player in MLB history to hit at least 20 postseason homers with his shot to left-center off Tanner Houck that tied it at 3.
Hernández opened a three-run third with his soaring homer to center field to tie it at 1-all.
Xander Bogaerts walked with one out and Rafael Devers singled. J.D. Martinez hit a grounder to Altuve for what should have been a routine play. But the ball grazed his glove and rolled between his legs to allow Martinez to reach and Bogaerts to score to put Boston up 2-1.
Former Mississippi State player Hunter Renfroe then hit an RBI double to left field to extend it to 3-1 before Houston’s two brightest stars came through late.
“Experience
Correa said.
Altuve and Correa, connecting again for a team trying to reach the World Series for the second time in three years. The Astros also won the championship in 2017, a crown tainted by the team’s sign-stealing scandal.
Both teams leaned heavily on their bullpens after both Boston starter Chris Sale and Houston’s Framber Valdez were chased in the third.
Ryne Stanek got the last out of the seventh for the win.
matters,”
AUBURN, Ala., – The second day of the ITA Southern Regionals was a tough one for Mississippi State men’s tennis.
The doubles team of Seth Richey and Davide Tortora were edged 8-6 by Alabama State’s Ruan Du Preeze and Samrakshyak Bajracharva on Friday.
Richey also dropped his singles consolation match to Maj Tomac of Jacksonville State 6-2, 6-0.
The good news is that the Bulldogs get an opportunity to bounce back in the singles main draw starting today.
Tortora will start things off against Ole Miss’ Simon Junk while Carles Hernandez battles Billy Suarez of Tulane. Both of those matches get underway at 9 a.m.
No. 27 Florian Broska goes up against Auburn’s Jan Galka, No. 92 Alberto Colas collides with John Halquist Lithén of Ole Miss and Gregor Ramskogler takes on LSU’S Boris Kozlov. All three of those matches are set for 11 a.m. starts.
After receiving a first round bye as the No. 8 seed, Colas and Hernandez will also be in doubles action against the Southern Miss tandem of Pawin Jirapoomdaje and Pasawee Reansuwong.
The top-seeded and nationally ranked No. 6 team of Broska and Ramskogler also received a first round bye and await their first opponents. Broska and Ramskogler will meet the winner between Alcorn State’s Luka Andonov and Davide Pata and David Jeanne Grandinot and Kristofer Johnson of Alabama State.
Soccer
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – With less than 2 minutes remaining, Mississippi State saw its equalizing goal snuffed out inches from the goal line by a Tennessee defender as the Bulldogs fell 2-1 in Knoxville.
State had battled back from a two-goal deficit and had a chance to tie the match on a long service from goalkeeper Maddy Anderson. Anderson’s clearance bounced over the first pair of players it came to before Onyi Echegini flicked it on with a high-arching volley.
Andrea Tyrrell narrowly beat the Lady Vols’ keeper to the ball at the top of the box and poked it on goal with her toe. The ball slowly rolled toward the yawning net, but Tennessee’s Tara Katz slid in to clear it off the line.
“We were right there at the end,” MSU head coach James Armstrong said. “We could have scored with a minute to go. Once again, the effort was immense all the way through to that final opportunity. It was just played off the line at the end. We went toe-to-toe with a top-10 opponent. We frustrated them.”
MSU (3-7-3, 1-5-1 SEC) had fallen behind in the sixth minute after a blocked free kick was deflected in the box. Tennesee’s Claire Rain pounced on the rebound and fired it home. In the 47th minute, Claudia Dipasupil scored from the top left corner of the box.
“The girls played incredibly hard,” Armstrong said. “We made two mistakes. They punished us. We were 2-0 down on the road and they came back straight away. We could’ve equalized at the end. Now, we have to turn performances into results pretty quickly. We’re running out of time, but we can’t do more than they’re doing right now. We’re immensely proud of the fight in this team. I think anyone that watched the game can see that.”
State pulled within one goal just 10 minutes later when a bouncing clearance was deflected by Hailey Farrington-bentil. The ball came to rest at Ally Perry’s feet in the box where she played it out wide to an open Madison Cotta who scored her second career goal. It was Perry’s team-leading fourth assist.
The Bulldogs then outshot the Lady Vols 6-2 over the next 30 minutes leading into Tyrrell’s chance. For the match, MSU held a 14-9 advantage in shots and a 6-4 edge in shots on goal. The Bulldogs held Tennessee (13-1-0, 6-1-0 SEC) to its lowest shot total of the season and matched its second-lowest shots on goal total of the year.
The Bulldogs return home on Thursday to host Texas A&M at 6 p.m. State’s penultimate home match will air on SEC Network+.
Women’s Golf
CHAPEL HILL, N.C.– The Mississippi State women’s golf team wrapped up the first round of the Ruth’s Chris Tar Heel Invitational on Friday. After 18 holes, the Bulldogs sit in 11th place after carding a team score of 5-over par.
To lead Mississippi State, freshman Julia Lopez Ramirez carded five birdies for the day, tied for second-most through day one, and finished tied for 18th with a score of 1-under (71). Lopez-ramirez shot the third best in par 3 scoring. shooting 2.75 (-1).
“It’s always a great opportunity to play a really strong field,” MSU head coach Carlie Ewing said. “It is something that is always a really good challenge that our team should be really excited to have in front of them. It is always a great opportunity. A lot more positives can come out of it than anything. I am just excited to see the selection of some of the best teams in the country and would like to be included amongst them. We like to be around the best teams in the country as much as we can because that is what we strive to be. It is always great to surround ourselves with teams that have accomplished a lot of great things and have great players.”
In a 12-way tie for 27th, Blair Stockett carded an evenpar score of 72 in the first round. Stockett carded a thirdbest 3.90 (-1) in par 4 scoring in round one. Hannah Levi is tied for 53rd, shooting 2-over (74), while Lauren Miller finished day one tied for 71st, shooting 4-over (76). Abbey Daniel rounded out the scoring for State tied for 77th with 5-over (77).
State will tee off between 8:30 a.m. and 9:10 a.m. today. The Bulldogs will be paired with Furman and UNCW for the second round of the tournament.