ALCS Recap: Game 6
The Houston Astros are going to the World Series!!! After outslugging the Boston Red Sox over the last 3 games in the ALCS, Houston has once again advanced to the World Series for the 3rd time in the last 5 years. What started and ended as an all around contested game, it led to a handful of high-leverage situations on each teams bullpen’s & ended with another big hit off the bat from Houston. Some infield woes & the continuation of Yordan Alvarez’ recent hot streak caps off a great series with Boston’s “underdog” story coming to an end.
Innings 1-6
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1st Inning: Yordan Alvarez stays hot to begin the game and drove in a run with a double to deep centerfield off Nathan Eovaldi, making the game 1-0.
2nd Inning - 4th Inning: Besides the 1st inning mistake to Yordan, Nathan Eovaldi came up clutch for Boston giving them a bit of length (4 IP) to try and stray away from a tired bullpen. Eovaldi also escaped a HUGE 4th inning jam with runners on 2nd & 3rd with no outs to start the inning. Eovaldi would then strike out the next two batters in Correa & Tucker, and despite Yuli Gurriel getting on base and making the situation bases load, “Nasty Nate” rung up McCormick to end the inning.
6th Inning: Luis Garcia was the star of tonight’s game throughout. After getting pulled from his last ALCS appearance due to an injury, Garcia SHINED in the brighest spot. Through 6 innings, Garcia was no-hitting the Red Sox & was untouchable in every aspect of the nail biting series clincher.
Kyle Tucker would tack onto Houston’s lead in the bottom half of the inning with a double play that would drive in Yordan Alvarez from 3B, making the game 2-0.
Innings 7-9
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7th Inning: It’s always great to see teams put together a defensive clinic in baseball and it seems like the Astros do it every game, and just know how to do it with ease. With 1 out in the Top of the 7th, a Strikeout to Boston’s Travis Shaw & a Throwout at 2B from Verdugo’s attempted steal, the Astros escape a potential momentum boost for Boston in the greatest of ways.
8th Inning: Ryne Stanek comes out of the bullpen for Houston & works an easy 1-2-3 inning, appearing in his 5th game this series and dropping his ALCS ERA to 1.64
In the bottom half of the inning, Michael Brantley leads it off with a single off of Tanner Houck. And after getting out Alex Bregman, Houck gives up a base hit to the scorching hot Alvarez who tops off his Game 6 with going 4-4 on the night. Adam Ottavino was called in to clean up Houck’s baserunners & gives a MASSIVE 3-run BOMB to Kyle Tucker that extended Houston’s lead to 5-0.
9th Inning: After Kyle Tucker’s CLUTCH 3-run bomb off Adam Ottavino, Ryan Pressly closes out the game & series, sending the Astros to the World Series and the Red Sox packing up to go home.
Full Analysis
For the third straight game, an American League Championship Game was close heading into the 6th inning when in comparison to the first 3 games of the series where most of each team’s offensive damage was done in the early parts of the game. However…like every game this series, the later parts of the game proved to be the most crucial. The Red Sox worked into and out of some trouble, managing to keep the game at a low score. Boston’s offense only left a total of 8 runners on base in Game 6, though most of that can be contributed to Luis Garcia’s phenomenal start.
For Houston, 2 out runs proved to be the deciding factor this series as the team batted over .500 in those scenarios. Big time hits, impressive base running & tremendous infield defense were just some of the X-Factors towards the Astros flat-lining the Red Sox & advancing to another World Series.
For Boston, What a year, what a season & what a ride. No one thought the Red Sox would get this far at the start of the 2021 season. And despite falling out of 1st place in the AL East to having to fight for a Wildcard spot leading up to the very last day of the season, the Red Sox can say that they quieted any doubters & have a lot of good things to look forward to in 2022.
Stars of The Game
Yordan Alvarez: 4-4 | 1 RBI
Luis Garcia: 5.2 IP | 7 K | 1 H | 1 BB | 0 ER
Kyle Tucker: 1-4 | 3 RBI | 1 HR