A pair of grand slams had the Red Sox up early, and they never looked back as Boston took Game 2 of the ALCS over the Astros Saturday afternoon to even up the series at a game apiece.
Kyle Schwarber, who Alex Cora put in the leadoff spot, doubled to lead off the affair before a pair of walks from Rafael Devers and Alex Verdugo brought up J.D. Martinez with the bases loaded. Martinez, on a 1-0 delivery from Luis Garcia, Martinez lined an opposite field grand slam just over the right field wall to give the Sox the early 4-0 lead.
Kevin Plawecki began the top half of the second inning with a walk, and in came Jake Odorizzi as Garcia left with an apparent injury. A pair of singles from Christian Arroyo and Kiké Hernandez loaded the bases, and Devers made Houston pay, as he golfed a grand slam that just barely made it fair, putting the ‘Stros in an early 8-0 hole.
Hernandez made it a nine-run lead with a solo shot in the fourth — adding to his already impressive postseason campaign.
Nathan Eovaldi was solid, hurling the first three bottom halves with ease but scampered into some trouble in the fourth. With two outs, the right-hander walked Yordan Alvarez before allowing a pair of hits to Carlos Correa and Kyle Tucker which put Houston on the board. Yuli Gurriel cut the Houston deficit to six with a two-run single.
Eovaldi hurled a scoreless fifth — he started the sixth, but let up a one-out single to Yordan Alvarez before getting relieved by Adam Ottavino — who cleanly finished out the frame.
Garrett Whitlock hurled a scoreless seventh and eighth. Darwinzon Hernandez had the ninth, but he served up two solo homers to Gurriel and Jason Castro — Ryan Brasier grabbed the final out of the affair to give Boston the series-tying win.
Game 3 will be on Monday, at 8:08 p.m. EST, in Boston. Jose Urquidy will be on the mound for the ‘Stros, while Boston’s starter has not been announced yet.
(Photo by Billie Weiss/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)