The Red Sox have 4 games against the Astros and assuming they win the AL East, then they will face the Astros again in the ALDS. The Sox entered last night’s game with a Magic number of 2 to clinch the East. Eduardo Rodriguez struggled mightily on the mound and the Astros pummeled away and won with ease. However the Yankees also lost last night, so the official Magic Number is now One.
Eduardo Rodriguez followed suit with the other Sox starters and had trouble right out of the gate. The Astros were sporting a 3 run lead before the 1st inning was over. The Astros loaded the bases, but ERod almost got out of it as he had two outs in the inning. Unfortunately he gave up a bases clearing double to Gonzalez to have the Astros up 3-0. Trouble followed Rodriguez in the 2nd inning when he gave up a 2 run homer to Bregman. Sox 0-5. Farrell had seen enough and went to go get ERod. The rest of the game would be in the hands of the bullpen. The Sox bats got on the board in the bottom of the 2nd when Mitch Moreland hit a solo home run and then Xander Bogaerts hit an RBI single. Sox 2-5.
Blaine Boyer was on the mound for the 3rd and pitched a scoreless frame. Boyer went back out for the 4th inning, but this one would not be as easy going for him. Boyer gave up an RBI ground rule double to Correa, an RBI single to Gurriel and then an RBI single to Maybin before being pulled in favor of Fernando Abad. Abad allowed Gonzalez to score by way of a wild pitch and the Astros were leading 9-2. Austin Maddox came out of the pen and got the final out of the inning to stop the bleeding. Maddox pitched a scoreless 5th inning and then gave up another run to the Astros in the 6th. Maddox gave up a solo home run to McCann. Sox 2-10. Matt Barnes took the mound in the 7th and he continued the trend of giving up runs to the Astros. Barnes gave up a 2 run homer to Correa to allow the Astros to have 10 runs on the Sox. Sox 2-12. Heath Hembree came out to pitch a scoreless 8th and Hector Velazquez pitched a scoreless 9th, but the Astros had been in the driver’s seat in this game since the first inning. The Sox will have another chance to clinch the AL East on Friday when either the Yankees lose or the Red Sox win.
Red Sox 2 Astros 12 BOXSCORE
WP: Peacock (13-2) LP: Rodriguez (6-7)
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