The
Astros
celebrate
as they
win the
American
League
Championship
Series
and
advance
to the
World
Series
on
Friday,
Oct. 22,
2021 at
Minute
Maid
Park in
Houston.
(Brett
Coomer/Staff
photographer) |
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Houston
Astros
manager
Dusty
Baker
Jr. and
shortstop
Carlos
Correa
celebrate
their
win
against
the
Boston
Red Sox
in Game
6 of
baseball's
American
League
Championship
Series
Friday,
Oct. 22,
2021, in
Houston.
The
Astros
won 5-0,
to win
the ALCS
series
in game
six. (AP
Photo/David
J.
Phillip) |
|
García,
Alvarez
help
Astros
oust Red
Sox,
reach
World
Series
By
KRISTIE
RIEKEN
apnews.com
HOUSTON
- Two of
the
youngest
Houston
Astros
stars
helped
one of
baseball’s
oldest
managers
get
another
shot at
a most
elusive
title.
Rookie
Luis
García
showed
the
poise of
an
October
ace, MVP
Yordan
Alvarez
did more
damage
at the
plate
and the
Astros
earned
yet
another
trip to
the
World
Series,
beating
the
Boston
Red Sox
5-0
Friday
night in
Game 6
of the
AL
Championship
Series.
García
and
Alvarez,
both 24
and
ascending,
and
72-year-old
manager
Dusty
Baker
will
open the
World
Series
on
Tuesday
night,
either
at
Dodger
Stadium
or home
against
Atlanta.
The
Braves
lead Los
Angeles
3-2 in
the NL
Championship
Series
going
into
Game 6
Saturday
night.
“There’s
four
more
wins on
the
board
out
there,”
Baker
said.
“There’s
four
more
wins
you’ve
got to
get.”
The
Astros
advanced
to the
World
Series
for the
third
time in
five
seasons.
They won
the
championship
in 2017,
a crown
tainted
by the
team’s
sign-stealing
scandal,
before
losing
to the
Washington
Nationals
in seven
games in
2019.
García
pitched
no-hit
ball
into the
sixth
inning,
leaving
to a
huge
ovation
with two
outs
after a
triple
by Kiké
Hernández.
It was
an
impressive
bounce-back
performance
for
García,
who
started
Game 2
and gave
up a
grand
slam in
the
first
inning
before
leaving
with no
outs in
the
second
because
of
discomfort
in his
right
knee.
“I
know I’m
a rookie
but I
know
what I
can do
and
that’s
what I
did
tonight,”
García
said.
Alvarez
continued
his
scorching
streak,
a year
after
watching
at home
after
surgery
to both
knees as
the
Astros
came one
game shy
of
reaching
the
World
Series.
The
slugging
designated
hitter
went 4
for 4,
including
a triple
and two
doubles.
He led a
Game 5
win with
three
hits and
three
RBIs.
Álvarez
hit an
ALCS-record
.522 (12
for 23)
with one
homer,
three
doubles,
the
triple
and six
RBIs in
Houston’s
six-game
victory.
He got
nine
hits in
his last
13
at-bats.
Catcher
Martín
Maldonado
made the
defensive
play of
the game
on a
strikeout-throwout
double
play to
end the
seventh
with
Houston
ahead
2-0.
It
will be
Baker’s
second
trip to
the Fall
Classic
as a
manager
and
first
since
leading
the San
Francisco
Giants
to the
NL
pennant
in 2002.
As a
player,
he went
three
times
with the
Dodgers,
winning
it all
in 1981.
“Hey,
I’m
going
back to
the
World
Series!”
Baker
told a
cheering
crowd at
Minute
Maid
Park.
For
Houston,
it was a
team
victory
featuring
all
facets
of the
game it
used in
taking
the AL
West
title
and
beating
the
Chicago
White
Sox in
the AL
Division
Series.
The
Astros
won the
clincher,
too,
without
a hit
from
stars
Jose
Altuve
and
Carlos
Correa —
Alex
Bregman
got two
hits and
scored a
run.
“We
have a
little
bit of
everything,”
Altuve
said.
Boston’s
best
shot to
score
came in
the
seventh.
The
wild-card
Red Sox
had
runners
at first
and
third
with one
out in
after a
single
by Alex
Verdugo.
But
Kendall
Graveman
struck
out
pinch-hitter
Travis
Shaw and
Maldonado
made a
perfect
throw to
Correa,
who was
covering
second,
to beat
Verdugo
there
and end
the
inning.
Maldonado
beat his
chest
with
glee as
Graveman
and
Correa
both
pumped
their
fists in
celebration
to roars
from the
crowd of
42,718.
Kyle
Tucker
broke it
open
with a
three-run
homer
with two
outs in
the
eighth.
Television
cameras
flashed
to
Houston’s
Hall of
Fame duo
of Craig
Biggio
and Jeff
Bagwell,
who
stood
together
and
cheered
as
Tucker
rounded
the
bases.
Asked to
describe
these
Astros,
Biggio,
who led
the team
to its
first
World
Series
said
simply:
“They’re
just
good.”
Ryan
Pressly
closed
it out
in the
ninth.
The Red
Sox, who
looked
so
formidable
at the
plate at
the
start of
the
season,
were
held to
two hits
in their
final
game.
“I
think
we’re
definitely
disappointed
right
now,”
Red Sox
starter
Nathan
Eovaldi
said.
“We
obviously
wanted
to win
this
game and
win the
series
and go
on the
to World
Series.
No one
expected
us to be
here. We
proved a
lot of
people
wrong.”
Bregman
singled
with two
outs in
the
first
before
the
double
by
Alvarez
put the
Astros
up 1-0.
Hernández
was in
position
to make
the
catch,
but it
hit off
his arm
below
his
glove
and
dropped
in for
the hit.
Consecutive
romps by
Boston
and its
bashers
made it
appear
that the
Red Sox
were in
complete
control
of the
series
after
Game 3,
but as
the long
fly by
Alvarez
proved,
they
didn’t
have a
firm
grip on
things.
The
Astros,
buoyed
by their
young
pitchers
and
rediscovered
offense,
won the
next two
games by
a
combined
18-3 to
return
home a
win away
from a
World
Series.
“It’s a
relentless
team,”
Correa
said.
“We
stick
together.
We’re a
family.
We fight
back and
we never
give
up.”
Framber
Valdez
pitched
the
Astros
to a
Game 5
win at
Fenway
Park,
then
their
rising
stars,
García
and
Alvarez,
did the
rest.
Alvarez
tripled
with no
outs in
the
sixth to
chase
Josh
Taylor
and
Tanner
Houck
plunked
Correa.
Tucker
then
smacked
a
grounder
right at
first
baseman
Kyle
Schwarber
who
tagged
Correa
for the
unassisted
double
play as
Alvarez
slid
safely
into
home to
make it
2-0.
Eovaldi
got the
win in a
solid
Game 2
start
but was
charged
with the
loss in
Game 4
after
giving
up the
go-ahead
runs
after
coming
in with
the game
tied in
the
ninth.
On
Friday,
he
permitted
five
hits and
one run
as the
Red Sox
lost a
playoff
game
when
started
for the
first
time
after
entering
the game
5-0 in
his
starts.
García
was the
first
pitcher
to take
a
no-hitter
into
sixth of
a
potential
playoff
clincher
since
the
Mets’
Noah
Syndergaard
got two
outs in
sixth
against
the
Giants
in 2016
NL
wild-card
game.
García
allowed
Schwarber
to reach
on a
wild
pitch
after a
strikeout
to open
the game
and
walked
Verdugo
with one
out in
the
second.
He
settled
in after
that,
sitting
down the
next 13
with
five
strikeouts,
before
Hernández
got
Boston’s
first
hit on a
triple
with two
outs in
the
sixth.
García
finished
with
seven
strikeouts.
Phil
Maton
took
over and
retired
Rafael
Devers
to end
the
inning.
SIGN
OF THE
TIMES
Boston
manager
Alex
Cora has
heard
the
speculation
that the
Astros
are
relaying
signs
from the
bases
and said
the Red
Sox
protect
themselves
against
that.
“It’s
not
about
technology
or other
stuff,”
Cora
said.
“There’s
stuff
that
happens
on the
field
that you
have to
be
guarded.
The same
way that
teams
play
defense
against
us, we
play
defense
against
other
teams.
Not only
them we
did it
against
the
Yankees,
we did
it
against
the
Rays.
It’s the
nature
of the
game.
We’re
prepared
for
that.”
Cora
knows
better
than
most
about
Houston’s
sign-stealing
history
having
been the
team’s
bench
coach
during
the 2017
season
when
they
were
found to
have
violated
rules by
using a
television
camera
to steal
catchers’
signs.
UP
NEXT
The
Astros
will
make
their
fourth
World
Series
appearance.
They
lost in
their
first
try,
swept by
the
White
Sox in
2005.
___
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