Astros oust Red Sox; Yankees level series
Houston Astros’ Alex Bregman celebrates his home run off Boston Red Sox relief pitcher Chris Sale with Jose Altuve in Game 4 of their American League Division Series in Boston. AP
NEW YORK – The Houston Astros rallied for a wild 5-4 victory over the Red Sox in Boston on Monday to advance in the Major League Baseball playoffs.
The Astros won the best-of-five American League division series three games to one.
Astros infielder Alex Bregman belted a game-tying home run off Red Sox ace hurler Chris Sale – pitching in relief – to lead off the eighth inning and Josh Reddick delivered a two-out run-batted-in single later in the inning off of Red Sox closing pitcher Craig Kimbrel that put the Astros up 4-3.
“We felt like that we could win this series, but we knew it was going to be tough,” said Astros manager AJ Hinch. “We get out to a 2-0 (series) lead, and then you come to Fenway and it’s just a different animal. But our guys just stayed the course.”
In the other AL series game, Aaron Judge capped a four-run second inning with a two-run double as the New York Yankees clobbered the Cleveland Indians, 7-3, to even their series at two games apiece on Monday night at Yankee Stadium. The series winner will face the Astros for a spot in the World Series.
Ken Giles held the Red Sox scoreless in the bottom of the eighth, and Kimbrel gave up a two-out, run-scoring double to Carlos Beltran that made it 5-3 for the visitors.
The Red Sox gave disheartened, rain-soaked fans at Fenway Park a last glimmer of hope in the bottom of the ninth when Rafael Devers led off the inning with a drive to deep left center field off Astros closer Ken Giles. It bounced off the wall and gave Devers an inside-the-park home run.
But it wasn’t enough as the Astros reached a league championship series for the first time since 2005 – when they were in the National League. (AFP)
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