By Yours Truly
http://throneberryfields.com/2017/10/09/belief-isnt-enough-except-to-the-astros/
For a few moments it looked as though Astros manager A.J. Hinch made a big mistake in the bottom
of the fifth in Fenway Park Monday. With one out and one on for the Red Sox, he brought in Justin
Verlander, his Game One starter and winner—who’d never thrown an inning of relief in his life until
now.
Later, in the bottom of the ninth, it looked like Hinch made a mistake asking closer Ken Giles for a
six-out save when Red Sox rookie Rafael Devers stepped up to the plate to lead off.
Verlander threw Red Sox left fielder Andrew Benintendi a 2-2 slider that hung like a coat in a closet.
And Benintendi hit it over the right field fence faster than that to give the Red Sox a 3-2 lead.
Practically everyone in Fenway Park wondered if Hinch had lost his marble—singular—bringing
Verlander in during instead of to open an innings.
And, with the Astros leading 5-3 going to the bottom of the ninth, Devers ripped one off the low
center field edge of the Green Monster, the ball caromed far from Astros center fielder George
Springer with Devers going to the afterburners. He crossed the plate unmolested with the Red
Sox’s first postseason inside-the-park home run in 101 years.
But Verlander held fort just as Chris Sale, his Game One opposite, did for the Red Sox. At least,
Sale did until Alex Bregman hit one into the Monster seats to open the top of the eighth to re-tie
things at three. Then Red Sox closer Craig Kimbrel, brought in with pinch runner Cameron Maybin
aboard, walked Springer and surrendered a tiebreaking RBI single to Josh Reddick in the bottom.
For Reddick it had to be sweet redemption. It was his try for what turned into Jackie Bradley, Jr.’s
three-run homer Sunday, when the ball banged off his glove into the seats near the right field foul
pole, that helped send the set to a fourth game in the first place.
Kimbrel—the best relief pitcher in the American League not named Andrew Miller this year—looked
like he’d hold it to a run until pinch hitter Carlos Beltran banged a double off the Monster to drive
home what proved the insurance run. Former Met Addison Reed came in to get the third out, but
Giles hung in after Devers finished his impression of the Flash and sandwiched a pair of ground
outs around a strikeout.
Suddenly the Red Sox waving Mitch Moreland home on Hanley Ramirez’s base hit to shallow left in
the third hurt even worse. Moreland, who isn’t even Wile E. Coyote on the bases, never mind the
Road Runner, was out by five feet when Astros left fielder Marwin (the Magician) Gonzalez fired a
perfect strike home to catcher Brian McCann.
One day after David Price—who started the year as a starter but ran into elbow issues and finally
to the bullpen, where he shone considerably—helped save the Red Sox season with stout Game
Three relief, there was no more relief for these Red Sox.
The Astros just might become Yankee fans for once in their lives. If the Yankees beat the Indians
at Yankee Stadium Monday afternoon, then beat them back in Cleveland to nail their division set,
the Astros get the American League Championship Series’s home field advantage. An advantage
that didn’t hurt them against the Red Sox this time around.
Being in Fenway Park Monday, a day after the Red Sox destroyed them in Game Three, didn’t seem
to bother the Astros, either. They pecked their way to an early 2-1 lead, Springer scoring while Jose
Altuve hit into a double play in the first, and—after Xander Bogaerts tied the game at one with a shot
over the right center field fence in the bottom of the first—Springer singling home Yuri Gurriel in the
top of the second.
The Red Sox got themselves handicapped early enough when manager John Farrell got himself tossed
for arguing a third strike call with plate ump Mark Wegner, whose reputation is usually to be generous
to hitters on inside pitches, to spare Dustin Pedroia the ejection after Pedroia struck out with the bases
loaded and one out.
Replays showed the fateful pitch from Astros starter Craig Morton in about the same spot as the third
strike at which Bradley looked one batter sooner. Farrell took it for the team and bench coach Gary
DiSarcina—thought to be a managerial candidate in his own right—took command but Bogaerts flied
out to right to strand the pads full.
Morton and Red Sox starter Rick Porcello—just
what was a guy who went from Cy Young (2016) to
sayonara (2017: 10-17, 4.65 ERA, 4.60 fielding independent pitching), practically, doing starting a
game the Red Sox absolutely had to win, anyway?—were both gone early.
DiSarcina lifted Porcello after three and went to Sale. After Benintendi teed off, Verlander got two outs
to close the fifth and pitched two more innings of absolutely spotless relief. Sale pitched a pair of three
up/three down innings, shook off an infield error allowing Gurriel aboard in the sixth, and ducked a pair
of base hits in the seventh.
Then Bregman tied it up on Sale’s dollar and it made a hair-raising game into a battle of the bullpens
that proved even hairier.
Whether it meant the last game of Farrell’s life as the Red Sox manager—he took them to a World Series
ring in his first year, survived two bottom finishes, and won back-to-back American League Easts only
to be shoved out in postseason round one each time—is up for speculation now.
Whether the Astros go to the World Series from here may depend on whom they face in the LCS. They
may have a better shot against the Yankees, against whom they were 5-1 on the season. But whomever
they face, going to the World Series may also depend on whether the Astros have a few more hair
raisers in their repertoire, too.
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