Athletics extend series; rookie sparks Braves
Chad Pinder tied the score with a three-run homer in the seventh inning, Sean Murphy hit a go-ahead sacrifice fly in the eighth and the Oakland Athletics rallied past the Houston Astros 9-7 on Wednesday to avoid elimination in their American League Division Series.
Houston leads the best-of-five series 2-1 and can advance to its fourth straight AL Championship Series with a victory on Thursday in Los Angeles.
The Astros wasted leads of 2-1 and 7-4, and the Athletics bounced back after giving up advantages of 1-0 and 4-2.
Houston’s bullpen had stifled Oakland in the first two games with seven scoreless innings of one-hit relief, but Pinder ended that dominance.
Houston led 7-4 when Marcus Semien and Tommy La Stella had back-toback singles off Josh James starting the seventh. Pinder hit a first-pitch slider to the opposite field for Oakland’s fifth homer, a drive chased by right fielder Kyle Tucker until he ran out of room.
La Stella, Mark Canha, Matt Olson and Semien also homered for the A’s, whose entire infield went deep. Teams outhomering opponents are 18-0 in the postseason.
The teams have combined for 18 homers – including seven in Game 3 – in the neutral-site series at Dodger Stadium featuring all day games.
Braves 2, Marlins 0: Rookie Ian Anderson pitched like an October veteran. Old pro Nick Markakis threw the best strike of the game. Just like that, Atlanta is on the verge of something they haven’t done since the days of Chipper, the Big Three and Bobby Cox.
Anderson blanked Miami into the sixth inning, Markakis made a nifty play in right field to help preserve the lead late, and the Braves threw another playoff shutout in a 2-0 victory Wednesday for a 2-0 lead in the National League Division Series in Houston.
The Braves have pitched three shutouts in four games during this year’s playoffs. They’re just the third team in MLB history to toss three shutouts in the first four games of a postseason, joining the 1966 Baltimore Orioles and the 1905 New York Giants.
Travis d’Arnaud and Dansby Swanson each homered for the second day in a row, putting the Braves one win away from a sweep. Game 3 is Thursday.
“It’s hard to bunch hits together, pitching is too good,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “Power, I think is something that plays in the postseason and was witnessed today.”
Atlanta hasn’t reached the NL Championship Series since 2001 when Chipper Jones, Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and John Smoltz played under Cox.
The Braves have lost in the division series eight times since then, including in the last two seasons – a fact star slugger Freddie Freeman said put a chip on their shoulders entering this round.
Anderson scattered three hits and struck out eight over 5 2⁄ innings. The
3 right-hander who made his MLB debut in late August added to his impressive outing last week in the wild-card series when he fanned nine in six scoreless frames against Cincinnati.