Red Sox Advance To First World Series Since 2013
A supreme confidence in his abilities despite the many pitfalls in his career in the postseason is something that wasn’t lost on Alex Cora regarding his veteran left-hander Davi Price.
Placing trust in a left-hander who had never won a postseason start in his career, the Boston Red Sox are headed to the Fall Classic.
The Boston Red Sox have advanced to the 2018 World Series after their 4-1 victory over the Houston Astros on Thursday night at Minute Maid Park in Game 5 of the ALCS.
Maligned and unwanted from his past postseason failures and present day failures in a Red Sox uniform, David Price in a brilliant performance pulled off the biggest victory of his 11-year MLB career.
With Boston in need of outs more than anything else with Chris Sale ailing and unable to go in Game 5, the Red Sox prized left-hander from a few years ago gave Boston his very best outing since putting on a Red Sox uniform.
Having given the Red Sox a solid effort in Game 2, Price did something he had not done in 11 previous career starts.
Get a win.
David Price (1-1) mowed down the Houston Astros hitters over six shutout innings. Price would allow only three hits while striking out a new playoff career-high nine on 93 pitches.
The Red Sox getting the big hit on this night would be third baseman Rafael Devers, who’s sixth inning home run off Justin Verlander padded Boston’s narrow lead.
The home run was the first for the 21-year-old in his postseason career.
Boston is headed to their first World Series since 2013 when they defeated the St. Louis Cardinals in six games to win their eighth World Series title.
The AL Pennant is the 14th in Red Sox franchise history and fourth since 2004.
Boston Red Sox recorded eight hits vs the Houston Astros. J.D. Martinez, Mitch Moreland and Ian Kinsler all finished the game with two hits apiece.
Alex Bregman, Jose Altuve, George Springer and Carlos Correa failed to reliever for the Houston Astros as they went a combined 2-for-16 with eight strikeouts.
Boston is 5-0 on the road this postseason.
It didn’t take long for there to be anxious moments at Minute Maid Park as the Boston Red Sox offense — which makes every pitcher they face sweat it out — was at it again in the second inning.
The Red Sox would rally with two outs to load the bases in the second inning as right fielder Mookie Betts had a bases loaded opportunity vs Astros ace Justin Verlander.
Verlander would win the battle with Mookie Betts as he struck out Betts swinging on a high fastball to end the inning as Minute Maid Park erupted following the strikeout.
While Justin Verlander was at Times his typical self vs the Red Sox high octane offense, he wouldn’t be able to keep Boston off the board for long.
J.D. Martinez would make Justin Verlander pay for a mistake up in the strike zone on a 1-2 pitch in the third inning as he blasted a solo homer to left field to give Boston an early advantage.
David Price, getting the start for the Boston Red Sox in Game 5, was razor sharp to open the game.
The left-hander would establish his fastball and changeup to the Astros righty dominated lineup early as Astros hitters chased pitches out of the zone and failed to get the bat on the ball in this win or go home affair.
The Astros wouldn’t get a man in scoring position until the fourth inning after a two-out double by first baseman Yuli Gurriel. Bearing down, Price would get Marcin Gonzalez swinging to end the inning to preserve Boston’s lead.
Like they have throughout this series, the Red Sox attacked and attacked against Justin Verlander until the they broke him in the sixth inning.
After two consecutive hits to open the sixth, Rafael Devers would hit a opposite field three-run bomb to left field to give Boston a 4-0 lead, stunning what was once a loud crowd at the park.
Justin Verlander would allow four runs on seven hits with two walks while striking out four over six gritty innings of work.
Marwin Gonzalez would get the Houston Astros on the board with a solo home run off newly inserted Boston Red Sox reliever Matt Barnes to make it a 4-1 game.
Alex Cora went with one of his starters, Nathan Eovaldi, in the eighth inning of Game 5. Eovaldi would allow one base runner on a single by George Springer with two outs before getting Jose Altuve to line out to center to end the inning.
On for the ninth inning, a closer in Craig Kimbrel providing more rollercoasters this postseason than Red Sox skipper Alex Cora and the rest of the Red Sox would like.
The Red Sox struggling closer would allow Red Sox fans to exhale on this night as after two strikeouts in the ninth inning, Kimbrel would strand a runner at first as he induced a fly ball by Tony Kemp to left fielder Andrew Benintendi to end the game and put Boston in the World Series.
David Price’s postseason struggles have made him a source of ridicule over the past few seasons as he has on numerous occasions struggled on this stage.
On Thursday night, Price got the last laugh and because of it the Boston Red Sox next game at Fenway Park won’t be for a Game 6 but for Game 1 of the 2018 World Series.
The Red Sox grinding and harassing mentality on offense and depth through the batter order was the difference in this ALCS series.
With two outs, the Boston Red Sox didn’t quit in this series as they made the Astros pitchers work to get that final out and made them pay when they got a pitch to hit.
The Red Sox will be heavily favored to win their ninth World Series title, as would be the case for a team that won a franchise record 108 games this past regular-season and have gone a combined 6-0 following their losses in each of their first two playoff series.
Thursday night’s frustrating season ending loss to the Boston Red Sox ended the Houston Astros run short of where they were a season ago.
The Astros edge after Game 1 is a distant memory after the season concluded with the team not finding enough in them mentally or physically to force a Game 6 back at Fenway Park.
The talk coming out of Houston in the coming days and maybe offseason will be how the series momentum shifted after Jose Altuve’s home run was taken away in the first inning of Game 2 by Joe West.
The reality is, Houston just couldn’t match Boston’s firepower in the ALCS.
The Astros pitching staff was incapable of slowing down this offensive machine and as had been the case in Houston’s losses throughout the regular-season, the team could not for whatever reason score enough runs on their home-field.
It’ll be a bitter pill to swallow watching the Boston Red Sox celebrate on their home-field to end their season, but this Houston Astros team will be around for the foreseeable future.
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