PICKING YOUR POISON
If the Red Sox don’t wish to risk pitching to Jose Altuve, the Astros’ lethal lineup will unleash another hitting star
It got to the point that the mighty Red Sox stopped pitching to Jose Altuve. And it didn’t even matter. Boston, defenseless and reeling, tried to protect itself by intentionally sending Altuve to first base for the second time in Game 2. Carlos Correa, who already had homered in the game, ripped a double down the left-field line, scoring two and putting the scorching Astros up by six.
Two games. Sixteen runs. Twenty-four hits.
Two absolute beatdowns by the home team in the American League Division Series, and the Astros need one more win for their first trip to the Championship Series since 2005.
This isn’t over. The Red Sox won 93 regular-season games, and A.J. Hinch’s club still has to fly cross country to famous Fenway Park. The last time the Astros were staring at the ALCS: Game 4 against the Royals in 2015 happened.
But Altuve reached base four times Friday during the Astros’ 8-2 win at Minute Maid Park and went 5-for-7 with three home runs, four RBIs and 14 total bases in Games 1 and 2. Nine Astros recorded hits Friday, while the team is batting .343 with a .418 OBP and 1.104 OPS. And the Red Sox have thrown their top two starters — 17-game winner Drew Pomeranz lasted just two innings in Game 2, giving up five hits and four runs.
Stout top to bottom
Now I’ll mention that the 2017 Astros led the majors in runs, hits, batting average, OBP and OPS during the regular season, while striking out fewer times than any other team.
Which means this hasn’t been some out-of-nowhere ALDS outburst. This has been the Astros — Nos. 1 through 9, from George Springer to Brian McCann — kicking Boston’s butt for two games and forcing Red Sox manager John Farrell to defend himself for putting Altuve on base for free.
“We’re pretty confident that when we put good at-bats together we’re going to score runs from a couple different spots of the order,” Hinch said. “Altuve still had a pretty good day — four times on base. But other guys in our lineup are here to hit, too. It’s nice to have that many threats throughout the order any given day.”
Correa was Game 1’s Alex Bregman, igniting another eight-run day with a two-run, first-inning blast.
The Astros then scored twice in the third inning and four times in the sixth, burying Boston as eight hitters came to the plate.
It got so bad — or incredible, if you were wearing orange and constantly screaming Friday — that Evan Gattis’ RBI smash off the left-field wall was lost in a mad haze of wooing, fist-pumping and shouting.
“The crowd was the loudest I’ve heard on the Gattis (single),” Hinch said. “There was a lot going on there and they were into it before the pitch, and then Gattis delivers with a bullet off the fence. … There is a moment where you can enjoy your players stepping up and delivering. Obviously, Correa’s double, we’re at the top step as soon as we get back to our seats or where we stand for the next batter, and Gattis kind of delivers the knockout punch of the day.”
New ace Justin Verlander was strong in Game 1, but he wasn’t a one-man show. Dallas Keuchel struggled through the opening two innings of Game 2, smoothed out, but he didn’t make it through six.
It didn’t matter. Yuli Gurriel and Marwin Gonzalez were following the Astros’ young core four, while battered Boston turned to 11 pitchers in two games just to leave Houston in one piece.
Gritty Dustin Pedroia, who hammered the Astros in another life, said the home team kicked Boston’s butt twice.
Farrell tipped his cap to Hinch’s overloaded lineup, which left no room for error and little to breathe.
“They have not missed when we missed in terms of pitch location. That’s been very effective,” Farrell said. “They’re very good, they’re deep and they have got a number of ways to beat you. So we fully respect and understood the opponent, and they’re playing like that.”
A collective onslaught
Game 1 was instant Astros history and three huge solo blasts from Altuve. Friday was a collective assault, with Correa carrying the power and a team with the third-best regular-season run differential in baseball (plus-196) continuing an attack that began in April.
“You’ve seen it throughout the whole season,” said Correa, who walked into Minute Maid on Friday expecting Boston to pitch around Altuve. “There’s a difference here of every single game, one through nine, everybody can do damage, everybody can go deep. That’s the good thing about our lineup — there’s no holes in our lineup and we feel very confident.”
Can the Red Sox stop this? For three consecutive games?
I’m heavily leaning toward no.
If you get scared and start pitching around Altuve, Correa’s coming. If you’re a little off in the first frame, Springer and Bregman will go deep.
If you can’t handle the Astros’ daily 1-9 onslaught, you’re in a huge 2-0 hole and a four-time All-Star is saying confidence is irrelevant when you’re getting beat up.
If the best-hitting team in baseball keeps this up, the Astros are going farther than the ALCS in 2017.