ALCS Recap Through 2 Games
What seemed like an unbalanced series (despite Boston overthrowing 2 of the American League’s top teams), it has seen both the Astros & Red Sox each scrape out a win in the first 2 games as the the series now heads back to Boston tied at 1-1. Both Houston & Boston are the Top 2 teams this Postseason in terms of offensive production, driving in a combined 86 Runs. Along with their potent offenses, both teams are ranked 6th (BOS) and 7th (HOU) in pitching production. And if Games 1 & 2 are any indicator of how great this series will be…we are in for a WILD and FUN ride.
Game 1
The Final Score of Game 1 was 5-4 with Houston jumping out to an early series lead. Game 1 was one to remember and gave us an early look at what this series will be like.
As mentioned, this series seemed lopsided despite Boston playing beyond expectations & the first 3 innings of the game saw Boston jump out to a 3-1 lead, shifting momentum early. Houston would later erase their deficit by scoring 2 runs in 6th tying the game up off the back of a Jose Altuve homerun.
The next inning helped cap off their comeback with a go-ahead BOMB from Public Enemy # 1 Carlos Correa before adding another run in the 8th to bring their lead up to 5-3. Boston did cut their deficit to within 1 by scoring and making the score 5-4 but they would not be able to tie it.
Key Stars of The Game
(BOS) Kiké Hernández: 4-5 | 2 RBI | 2 HR
(HOU) Jose Altuve: 1-3 | 3 RBI | 1 HR
(HOU) Carlos Correa : 3-4 | 1 RBI | 1 HR
Game 2
The 2021 AL Postseason race has been ALL Kiké Hernández, which has featured Kiké posting a 1.608 OPS through 7 games this October. And with Kiké’s hot streak, Boston was able to capitalize and tie their Championship Series vs Houston, after falling short of a comeback in Game 1.
Boston got the scoring started VERY EARLY vs Houston driving in 8….Yes EIGHT runs in the first 2 innings. From there on the Red Sox did not have to really break a sweat to secure the win.
Nathan Eovaldi went 5 strong innings, which gave Boston some much needed length after Chris Sale was pulled early in Game 1, giving their bullpen some rest.
Before getting into the “Stars” of Game 2, it would be an absolute CRIME to not highlight Kiké Hernández’ postseason stats to this point ahead of tomorrow’s Game 3:
Key Stars of The Game
(BOS) Nathan Eovaldi: 5 IP | 3 ER | 5 H | 1 BB | 3 K
(BOS) Rafael Devers: 1-4 | 4 RBI | 1 HR | 1 GRANDSLAM
(BOS) J.D. Martinez: 2-4 | 4 RBI | 1 HR | 1 GRANDSLAM
(BOS) Kiké Hernández: 2-4 | 1 RBI | 1 HR
(BOS) Garrett Whitlock: 2 IP | 0 H | 0 ER | 1 BB | 2 K
(HOU) Yuli Gurriel: 2-4 | 3 RBI | 1 HR
Looking Ahead to Game 3
Probable Starters:
(HOU) RHP Jose Urquidy vs (BOS) Eduardo Rodriguez
News & Notes:
Following their Game 2 loss, the Astros announced that RHP Luis Garcia left the game early due to right knee discomfort. Nothing has been made official but Garcia could miss time this series depending on the severity of it.
RHP Lance McCullers Jr. was diagnosed with a flexor pronator muscle strain prior to the start of the AL Championship Series & it is still unknown if he will be able to pitch this series or for the remainder of the postseason.