West Coast Goes 1 and 1 on Tuesday

Boston took a 2–1 lead in the ALCS Tuesday with a giant 8th inning that saw a grand slam by Jackie Bradley Jr. with 2 outs. Up to that point the game could have gone either way. As Boston started the game with 2 runs in the first on a couple of singles by Mookie Betts and Andrew Benintendi followed by a run-scoring double by J. D. Martinez. With one out in the inning, Xander Bogaerts knocked in Benintendi with a ground out to short and Boston was up 2–0 before Houston even took a swing.

The Astros came back quickly though and even though they only score once in the bottom of the first it made the statement that they weren’t gonna let the Sox take this game easily. Three singles in the inning made for a powerful threat but only a Jose Altuve scored leaving things at 2–1 in favor of the Red Sox.

That is until the bottom of the 5th when once again it was Altuve scoring. This time he drew a walk and Alex Bregman doubled him home, but that was once again all the Astros could muster. It was good enough to tie things up until the next half inning when Steve Pearce smacked a home run to left to put Boston back ahead.

Through the whole thing, both Keuchel and Eovaldi were pitching pretty well and the bullpens were keeping things quiet as well until the top of the 8th. Roberto Osuna came in and gave up a single to Bogaerts. Steve Pearce reached on a force out and then things became unglued as Rafael Devers singled, Brock Holt was hit by a pitch, Mitch Moreland was hit to score Pearce, and then Bradley stepped up to the plate. Osuna left the game quickly after that but the damage was done. By the time the top of the 8th was over Boston held a commanding 8 to a lead and went on to win the game.

In the NLCS this were a bit more sedate…and for a much longer time. Only 3 runs were scored and the game was tied from the top of the 5th until the bottom of the 13th.

The dodgers got on the board first in the top of the 1st with a walk and a single. Chris Taylor drew the walk leading off the game which didn’t bode well for Milwaukee. My superstition handed down from my Nana was always that if a team gave up a walk in the first at bat, they were destined to lose the game. Taylor came around to score on a Brian Dozier single to left and that was all the Dodger got for 12 more innings as they were held to 7 hits and struck out 17 times.

Milwaukee wasn’t much better at the plate as they waited until the 5th inning to score their run. Orlando Arcia reached base on a single to center and was driven in by a double off the bat of Domingo Santana. That was the extent of their scoring even though they got 8 hits.

Pitching was really the name of the game on Tuesday as 6 Brewers pitchers held the Dodgers to a single run for 9+ innings and Dodger pitching held Milwaukee to a single run for 13 innings. Of the 41 outs recorded in the game, 32 were strike outs though only one pitcher on either team picked up more than 4 of them. It was a classic long National League pitching game and it was exciting to think that any little mistake could mean the game for either side.

Player of the Day: Jackie Bradley Jr., BOS – 1–4, 1 R, 4 RBI, 1 HR
Pitcher of the Day: Rich Hill, LAD – 5 INN, 3 H, 1 ER, 6 K

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