Boston Red Sox annihilate Houston Astros in Game 3
It finishes here Boston 12 and Houston 3. This is the end of our live commentary coverage. Join us again tomorrow at 5 p.m. for live commentary of the NLCS Game 3 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Atlanta Braves, followed at 8 p.m. by our Boston Red Sox vs Houston Astros Game 4 live coverage.
This win now takes the ALCS series to 2 games for Boston and 1 game to Houston.
In another ballpark, the scoring overall might be lower, but in Fenway there are guaranteed to be lots of runs scored. Houston need to get into that mindset or they will be sunk.
Early scoring is the key for Houston to stay in this. They can not afford to wait around for a few innings before scoring a few runs. The next two games are at Fenway and they can find themselves in a very serious way if they don't take at least one of those games.
Their previously hot bats have been ice cold while Boston's lukewarm bats have caught fire.
That is the ball game. What an offensive show Boston put on. Houston now need to go and reset themselves, figure out something to keep them in this race.
Correa comes to the plate. He lines one to right and Renfroe makes a diving catch for the final out.
Alvarez lines one to Arroyo at second for out number two.
Oh, what a beautiful curve! The bottom just dropped out of it at 94 MPH, getting Bregman for out number one.
Hirokazu Sawamura comes on to close it out for Boston.
Stanek strikes out Bogaerts and Verdugo grounds out to first to end the inning. Houston is now down to their last gasp.
The Red Sox now have hit 20 homeruns in the first 8 games, tying a record set by the Houston Astros in 2004.
That is his 4th this post season and the 2nd of the series.
Devers hits an opposite field shot over the wall in left for a solo homerun!
Houston brings on Stanek to pitch to Boston. He gets pinch hitter Santana to whiff on three pitches.
Castro draws the walk bringing up Jose Altuve, who has gone 0 for 3 tonight. He hits into a double play and Brantley flies to left to end the inning. We go to the bottom of the ninth with Houston still trailing Boston 11-3.
Martín Pérez is brought on to pitch for Boston in the eighth and Bobby Dalbec replaces Kyle Schwarber at first.
Maton gets the side out in order to end seven.
Double switch for Houston with Aledmys Diaz takes over for Gurriel at first and Jason Castro replacing Martín Maldonado behind the plate.
Jose Siri pops out to the first base side of the mound and Houston is retired without doing any damage. We go into the stretch still Boston 11 Houston 3.
He walks Tucker and then Gurriel hits into a 6-4-3 double play.
The Red Sox bring on Hansel Robles in relief to try and see out this game. Eduardo Rodriguez has had a stellar evening.
Renfroe grounds out to third to end the inning. We go to seven now 11-3 Boston.
Martinez hits his third homerun this postseason!
Maton is given the nod and faces JD Martinez with Devers on first.
Raley faces Devers and walks him then Bogaerts strikes out for the first one. Verdugo flies to center and Siri makes a sliding catch for the second out, missing catching Devers getting back to first by the slimmest of margins. Dusty decides to make the swap with one on and two out and Raley is done for the day.
Correa grounds out to second and we go to the middle of six with the Red Sox leading by six, 9-3
Rodriguez has been outstanding tonight. Two innings after he looked to be in a bit of trouble and he is still throwing a dominant game. Yordan Alvarez goes down on strikes and Correa comes up with the pitch count at 95.
Rodriguez takes the mound and gets Bregman to fly out to center. He has thrown 87 pitches now.
Schwarber flies out to left and Kiké Hernandez pops out to first to end the inning in order.
Houston brings on Raley to face the Red Sox batters and he gets Arroyo to ground out on the first pitch.
Brantley pops out behind the plate and Boston moves to the bottom of the fifth still firmly in the driver's seat.
Houston's big bats have been silenced this series. Altuve, Brantley and Bregman are collectively 5 for 32 in the ALCS.
Altuve flies out to right for out number two.
Rodriguez is still in the game for Boston and he is still throwing strikes, ringing up Maldonado for the first out.
He chases a low ball and pops it to right field to end the inning. We go to the fifth with the Red Sox leading 9-3.
Renfroe strikes out for the second out of the inning. Vasquez comes to the plate 2 for 2 on the night.
JD Martinez draws the walk and we have two on and one out.
Verdugo takes what they give him, hitting against the shift for a single.
Bogaerts flies out to center for the first out.
Blake Taylor takes over for Houston and Xander Bogaerts will be his first test.
Rodriguez is almost certainly done for the night.
Siri grounds out to third to end the inning. Houston still have a mighty mountain to climb, but at least they are now in the game. They trail by six on the way to the bottom half of the fourth.
Gurriel is now 2 for 2 as he plops one into center for a single. Boston pitching coach Dave Bush comes out to have a powwow on the mound.
Kyle Tucker puts one over the right field wall and the Astros are on the board with three runs. 9-3
Bregman and Correa both hit identical pop outs behind the bag at second.
Yordan Alvarez puts one onto the monster for a single, advancing Brantley to third. This is the first that Houston have threatened all night.
Brantley leads off with a single through the shift at second.
Devers flies out to deep right to end the inning. 9-0 Redsox going to four.
With two outs, Kiké Hernandez gets his second base hit of the game.
Coming into the postseason, Houston had the hottest offense in baseball. Their production has simply dried up against Boston. At the same time, Boston's bats have come alive. They ended the regular season in a bit of a dip, but have been electrifying over the past three games.
Arroyo cranks a hanging slider over the Green Monster and we are now in a 9-0 game!
Vasquez pops a very high ball into left that ends up dropping in due to Brantley playing so deep. Renfroe scores on the play.
Renfroe takes off and steals second. The throw down gets away from Altuve and Renfroe takes third as well.
García loses the battle against Hunter Renfroe, handing him his second walk of the game. But none of the pitches in that at bat were terrible. All of the called balls were on the edge of the zone and could have gone the other way.
Altuve follows up with a ground out to short. The Astros strand one and go to the bottom of three trailing by six.
Maldonado comes to the plate and looks a little lost up there. His performance at the plate has been very poor through the playoffs. He strikes out on three straight pitches, only one of which was any good. Maybe time to bring Jason Castro into the game.
The centerfielder Siri flies out to center for the first out.
Gurriel slaps the first pitch to center for a single to lead off the third for Houston.
He throws one in the dirt that Maldonado was very fortunate to block, advancing the runners. Finally they get out of the inning when the next pitch is popped out to straightaway center. Huge damage in the second done. We go to three, 6-0 Boston.
García takes the pitching duties for Houston and faces Verdugo, the man who's stubborn at-bat, drawing the walk, started this six run inning.
The grand slam is one of the rarest plays in baseball and in this ALCS series Boston has posted three of them. They are the first team in history to have three grand slams in the post season.
Bogaerts singles and we have two on and two out. Dusty Baker has seen enough of this and gets Urquidy out of there. Houston had hoped not to use their bullpen this early, but something had to be done.
Devers flies out to center for the second out and we are back around to Bogaerts.
We have now hit around the lineup in the second here as Devers comes to the plate the ninth batter of the inning.
Kiké Hernandez isn't done yet, he knocks a single into left and we have a runner on first with only one out.
The Red Sox have now hit as many grand slams in this series as they did in the whole regular season.
Schwarber hits a grand slam! That should have had a stewardess on it.
Terrible error by Altuve at second! Should have been a 4-6-3 to end the inning, but instead everyone is safe and another run scores.
Arroyo comes to the plate with the bases still loaded and one out.
Vasquez reaches one off the end of the bat and sticks it into right field. One run scores.
Urquidy is trying to sweep his cuveball across the plate and seems to be struggling with his pitch placement.
Renfroe draws the walk and the bases are now full. This is a serious threat that the Red Sox are mounting. Brent Strom makes a visit to the mound.
Houston brought Siri into this game not so much for the bat but for his strong arm in center field. He played that ball well and perhaps saved a run.
JD Martinez slaps one off the Green Monster for a double. Men at second and third now with one out.
Verdugo is staying strong, working the count full and fighting off several fouls to draw the first walk of the game. That was a 10 pitch at-bat.
Urquidy is up to the challenge laid down for him. The story so far is both pitchers.
ꓘ for Bogaerts on three pitches.
Love them or hate them, one thing you can't do is ignore the Red Sox fans. They are loyal to a fault and you have to admire that. Foursquare behind their boys tonight, the crowd is on their feet and making themselves heard.
Tucker goes down swinging, making a clean sweep of the side in the top of two. We move to the bottom have without a score.
Alvarez and Correa go down on strikes. After five batters faced, Rodriguez has struck out three.
A routine fly to right and two pop outs are the sum of the Red Sox first. We finish one with no score.
Urquidy takes the mound tonight for Houston. His changeup is outstanding, especially against lefties where it is lethal, but he needs the fastball to be on tonight to set it up.
Rodriguez deals with the Astros in order. Altuve flies out to center, notching up a strikeout on Brantley, and Bregman's awkward ground out to third was played very nicely by Devers.
Altuve steps up to the dish and we are off. Play ball!
With such small dimensions, Fenway is a hitter's paradise. Left field sits at 310 feet from home plate and right field is 302. The deepest section is in right-center which touches 420.
Both teams are warmed up and preparing to take the field. Jonathan Papelbon is throwing out the first pitch. "If Varitek is catching, I'll throw one in the dirt and make him block it."
The American League is known as a hitting division and Fenway is at the top of the tree of hitter’s parks. Five of the top ten batters who have hit safely in the post season are Red Sox. The top three postseason RBI leaders play for Boston. Expect bats to be swinging.
Dusty Baker going into Boston for Game 3: “We're very evenly matched, that's why we're here. That's why we're in the final four. These are two teams that don't quit.”
Fenway Park is the second-smallest MLB ballpark by capacity with a total of 37,755 seats for a night game.
Astros Batting Order
Jose Altuve (R) 2B
Michael Brantley (L) LF
Alex Bregman (R) 3B
Yordan Alvarez (L) DH
Carlos Correa (R) SS
Kyle Tucker (L) RF
Yuli Gurriel (R) 1B
Jose Siri (R) CF
Martín Maldonado (R) C
Red Sox Batting Order
Kyle Schwarber (L) 1B
Kike Hernández (R) CF
Rafael Devers (L) 3B
Xander Bogaerts (R) SS
Alex Verdugo (L) LF
J.D. Martinez (R) DH
Hunter Renfroe (R) RF
Christian Vázquez (R) C
Christian Arroyo (R) 2B
His counterpart for the Astros will be Jose Urquidy, who 1 and 1 in the postseason with an ERA of 2.81 and through the regular season put up a 3.62 ERA on 8 wins and 3 losses. The Mexican right-hander finished 2021 with a WHIP of 0.99
Taking the mound for the Red Sox will be 28 year old Venezuelan Eduardo Rodriguez. In his only outing this post season in Game 4 of the ALDS he was stung with a loss and a 5.40 ERA, but don’t be fooled by that. His last regular season start saw him pitch five shutout innings and finished regulation play 13 and 8 with a 4.74 ERA. During the regular season, he struck out 185 batters and walked just 47.
Houston’s shortstop Carlos Correa has been red hot this postseason, hitting 9 for 21 (.429) with two doubles, one home run and five RBIs. In the regular season he had success against Red Sox pitching, going .393 with three doubles, two home runs and five RBIs. On the other base line, Boston’s offense hit Houston pitching hard in Game 2, including a first-inning grand slam by designated hitter J.D. Martinez.
Welcome to the live commentary of Game 3 of the American League Championship Series between the Houston Astros and the Boston Red Sox . With the series standing at one game apiece, this series is still wide open. The play moves north to Fenway Park tonight and we can really expect the Boston crowd to get involved in the action.