Red Sox Put Defending Champs On The Brink
There was little doubt among the Astros contingent that when Alex Bregman made contact with Craig Kimbrel’s first pitch offering that Houston had completed a rally we’ve seen countless times over the past two seasons.
Coming up huge in the biggest moments during this ALCS series with their bats, the Boston Red Sox can thank Andrew Benintendi’s right glove for inching them closer to the Fall Classic
The Boston Red Sox defeated the Houston Astros 8-6 on Wednesday night in Game 4 of the ALCS to take a 3-1 series lead.
The offense was the show in Game 4 for the Boston Red Sox but Andrew Benintendi’s play of the postseason is the lasting image here.
Coming on hard to make a catch to bail out struggling closer Craig Kimbrel, Andrew Benintendi topped an almost equally as impressive catch by Josh Reddick in the same inning with the ninth inning switched over.
Boston’s offensive versatility that led to them being the MLB’s highest scoring offense this season gave them a realistic chance of dethroning the Houston Astros this season.
A win away from the World Series now, Boston knows that they have last season’s champs hanging by a thread with their season on the line on Thursday in Game 5.
Andrew Benintendi, J.D. Martinez and Xander Bogaerts would all collect two hits apiece for the Boston Red Sox.
Boston would hit 5-for-14 with RISP with seven of their runs being scored with two outs on Wednesday night.
Just as they had done in Game 3, Boston put the pressure on the the defending champs.
Boston would stake themselves out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning off right-hander Charlie Morton. Rafael Devers’ two-run RBI single with two outs allowed Boston to take advantage of Morton, who walked and hit a batter in the inning.
Controversy would arise early in Game 4 as Jose Altuve had a would be home run taken away from him in the first inning, but not by a spectacular catch.
A replay review led to umpires ruling that there was fan interference as Betts leaped to make a diving catch at the wall in right field but fans would make contact with Betts’ catching glove.
The ruling led to a huge outpouring of boos from a sold out Minute Maid Park growing increasingly maddening given the magnitude of the game for Houston.
Afterwards, Houston would battle back against Boston in a seesaw affair. After tying the game in the third, the Houston Astros got a unlikely home run from Tony Kemp — who hit only six home runs during the regular-season — to take a 4-3 lead.
Unlike in Game 4 of the ALDS vs the New York Yankees, Rick Porcello would be unable to deliver a plausibly acceptable performance on the mound for Boston.
Porcello would allow four runs on seven hits and one walk while striking out three over four innings of work.
In need of some relief after a short outing by their veteran right-hander Charlie Morton, reliever Josh James would provide it for a while.
Entering in the third inning, the 25-year-old right-hander would pitch solidly for the Houston Astros until the Red Sox got to him in the fifth and sixth innings for three runs.
After Houston retook the lead at 5-4 after another RBI single by Carlos Correa, Boston would rally in the sixth with two outs.
Making his notable appearance as the most hated man in Houston these days, Jackie Bradley Jr. would hit a two-run home run off Josh James to give Boston a 6-5 lead.
Ryan Pressly produced a shaky outing against the Boston Red Sox but would be unlucky in the seventh inning.
Carlos Correa’s inability to put his foot on second base looking to get a double play would lead to Boston having runners on second and third with two outs instead of being out of the inning.
Lance McCullers Jr. in relief of Pressly — who walked Steve Pearce to load the bases — would walk in a run as Boston took a 7-5 lead.
The Red Sox would continue their two out magic in the eighth inning as J.D. Martinez would add a insurance run with a RBI single to Boston’s lead to three.
The Houston Astros would threaten the Red Sox in the eighth inning, getting a run to make it a 8-6 game, but it would be a inning highlighted by a untimely base-running error by Tony Kemp, who was gunned down trying to get to second on a base hit to begin the inning.
Craig Kimbrel, who gave up a run for the fourth time this postseason as he came in for a six-out save, struck out Marwin Gonzalez to end the inning.
Back on to start the ninth inning, Craig Kimbrel, as he has done for this postseason, would struggle to get the final three outs of the game.
After retiring first baseman Yuli Gurriel on a pop-up in foul ground, Kimbrel would walk the next two Astros batters.
Struggling with his control issues over his fastball, Kimbrel would pitch to contact against pinch-hitter Brian McCann before getting McCann to fly out on a 0-1 pitch.
Facing Tony Kemp, Kimbrel would once again labor as he walked Kemp on five pitches, bringing the bases loaded to the Astros best hitter in Alex Bregman.
On the first pitch of the at-bat, Bregman would line a fly ball to left field where Andrew Benintendi would make a amazing game-ending catch in left-field that would rob Bregman as he laid out to make the catch.
A.J. Hinch and the Astros may feel robbed by a two-run homer being taken away from Jose Altuve in the first inning, but Wednesday night’s loss was a culmination of mistakes.
Mistakes like wild pitches advancing runners with two outs, getting thrown out at second base trying to stretch a single into a double, and missing the second base bag trying to turn a double play.
For Alex Cora and the Red Sox, they’ve cracked the armor that is the Houston Astros pitching which finished the regular-season ranked 1st in starting and reliever ERA.
Boston’s damage has been done with two outs over the past three games of this series and that continued in Game 4 as Boston scored three seven runs with two outs.
Now on the verge of their first World Series appearance since 2013, Boston
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