Red Sox Take Lead in Series Over Astros

Many people think the Houston Astros are the best team in baseball. It is very easy to understand why they feel that way. The Astros won the World Series last year. They then went on to have a splendid 2018 campaign when they won 103 games. That is more than they had ever won in the history of the franchise which dates back more than half a century. The Astros are now playing the Boston Red Sox in the American League Championship Series. The Red Sox also broke their franchise record for wins in a season with 108.

On Tuesday night, the Red Sox showed all of the doubters that they are for real. They beat up on the Astros by a score of 8-2. This gave them a two games to one edge in the series. The big blow of the game was a grand slam that was hit by Red Sox center fielder and number nine hitter Jackie Bradley, Jr. It helped to turn a 4-2 Red Sox lead into an 8-2 lead. The game was over in any meaningful way at that point. Nathan Eovaldi picked up the win for the Red Sox by pitching six innings and giving up a pair of earned runs.

The next two games of the series will be in Houston. However, the Astros have put themselves in a situation where they will need to play at least one more game at Fenway Park if they are going to win the series. The Red Sox can wrap things up in Houston if they can be victorious the next two nights. The Astros bullpen was one of the team’s biggest strengths the entire year. However, it let them down big time in this game. Roberto Osuna had one of the worst performances of his career. He gave up fiver earned runs and was only able to retire two hitters. He gave up three hits and hit a pair of batters.

Red Sox manager Alex Cora has pushed all of the right buttons in the series so far. His managing has been terrific since the beginning of the season. He has done extremely well for a person who is in his first year on the job and had no previous managing experience. Charlie Morton will get the crucial game four start for the Astros. He was 15-3 in the regular season with 201 strikeouts and a terrific 3.13 earned run average.