The Red Sox took Game Three of the ALCS in a huge win. They scored first in the game to set the tone and had great pitching to close it out.
The Boston Red Sox and Houston Astros played Game Three of the ALCS Tuesday night. Nathan Eovaldi pitched for the Sox and pitched a good game. Game Three wasn’t a must win for the Sox but a huge one to get the first win in Houston.
The play at third base hasn’t been good between Eduardo Nunez and Rafael Devers. It really needs to get better. Jackie Bradley Jr. put the game away with a grand slam to make it 8-2 in the eighth inning. With that win, the Red Sox are three wins away from the World Series.
What the Sox did the best was scoring first to set the tone. You take the crowd and put the pressure on them when you score first. Eovaldi pitched six innings giving up two runs on six hits. Alex Bregman posted on Instagram a video of the Astros hitting Eovaldi when he pitched against them in June when he was a member of the Tampa Bay Rays. The Astros made him delete the video. Another player who doesn’t get it. Posting that just gives Eovaldi more ammo to shut Houston out when he pitches against them. He pretty much did that last night.
Eovaldi has pitched 13 innings this postseason and has only given up two runs. You could say he’s the best starting pitcher the Red Sox have this postseason. Let’s hope he keeps it up.
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Also, Bradley in the regular season with the bases loaded went 1-for-17 with three RBI’s. In the postseason, Bradley is 2-for-3 with seven RBI’s. It was such a big win tonight for the Sox it really gives them the edge now for the rest of the series.
The bullpen really stepped up last night when it needed too. Between Brian Braiser, Joe Kelly, and Matt Barnes they have allowed no extra-base hits through 15 innings. They are holding opponents to just four hits in 50 at-bats.
In my opinion, the bullpen has really stepped up this postseason to close out games. Manager Alex Cora has set his guys he trusts to close out games and it has paid off. The hitting in the clutch has improved too. An example of that was Bradley in the eighth hitting that grand slam to really put the game away.
The Red Sox will have to turn the page quickly though as they face the Astros in Game Four tonight.