Yanks force Game 5
Luke Voit and Gleyber Torres hit impressive home runs, Jordan Montgomery and three relievers combined on a three-hitter and the New York Yankees beat the Tampa Bay Rays 5-1 Thursday night to force a deciding fifth game in their AL Division Series.
The Yankees bounced back from two straight losses against their AL East rivals to set up an expected showdown between aces Gerrit Cole of New York and Blake Snell of Tampa Bay on Friday night.
Cole, backed by four home runs, beat Snell 9-3 in the series opener Monday and will be pitching on short rest for the first time in his big league career.
The Game 5 winner will remain in San Diego to face the Houston Astros in the AL Championship Series starting Sunday night.
The Yankees are trying to reach the ALCS for the third time in four seasons following eliminations by the
Astros at that stage in 2017 and last season. The Rays are trying to advance to the ALCS for the first time since 2008, when they made it to their only World Series.
ASTROS 11, ATHLETICS 6 LOS ANGELES — Carlos Correa hit a go-ahead, threerun homer after Michael Brantley’s two-run shot in the fourth inning, helping Houston beat Oakland to clinch their home-run heavy AL Division Series in four games.
Correa drove in five as the Astros - October villains to many a year after their signstealing scandal was revealed - advanced to the AL Championship Series for the fourth consecutive season.
It will be their 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.
Houston will play either the New York Yankees or Tampa Bay Rays in the bestof-seven ALCS in San Diego. The Rays lead their ALDS 2-1.
The Astros and A’s combined for 24 homers - 12 each - the most in a post-season series of five games or less.
BRAVES 7, MARLINS 0 HOUSTON — Rookie Kyle Wright dazzled for six innings in his post-season debut, and Atlanta rode their superb pitching to beat Miami for a three-game sweep and their first trip to the NL Championship Series since 2001.
Atlanta had lost eight straight Division Series, including in each of the previous two seasons, before outscoring the Marlins 18-5, including 11-0 in the final two games. The Braves are
5-0 with a 0.92 ERA in the post-season, allowing five runs in 49 innings.
There were only a few scattered cheers as the
Braves wrapped up the series in an almost empty Minute Maid Park, where the only fans allowed were players’ friends and families.
They will play the Los Angeles Dodgers or San
Diego in the NLCS starting Monday in Arlington, Texas. They had not advanced to the NLCS since they were led by Chipper Jones, Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and John Smoltz, a team managed by Bobby Cox.