HOUSTON, Oct. 23 (BUS): Two of the Houston Astros’ youngest stars helped one of baseball’s oldest coaches land another chance at an elusive title.
Rookie Luis Garcia showed October Champion poise, MVP Yordan Alvarez inflicted more damage on the board and earned the Astros another trip to the world championship, defeating the Boston Red Sox 5-0 Friday night in Game 6 of the AL Championship Series, AP reports.
Garcia and Alvarez, 24, and 72-year-old coach Dusty Becker will open the world championships on Tuesday night, either at Dodger Stadium or at home against Atlanta. The Los Angeles Braves lead 3-2 in the NL Championship Series going into Game 6 on Saturday night.
“There are four more wins on the board,” Becker said. “There are four more wins you have to get.”
The Superstars advanced to the World Championships for the third time in five seasons. They won the championship in 2017, a crown tainted by the team-sign-stealing scandal, before losing to the Washington Nationals in seven games in 2019.
García turned the ball away in the sixth inning, leaving a standing ovation with two wins after a hat-trick from Kiké Hernández. It was a fine performance to bounce back for Garcia, who started game two and ceded a Grand Slam in the first half before leaving without kicks in the second due to discomfort in his right knee.
“I know I’m a rookie but I know what I can do and that’s what I did tonight,” Garcia said.
Alvarez continued his blazing streak, after a year of watching him at home after surgery on both knees as the Astros came in one game shy of making it to the world championship. The designated hitter went slow 4 for 4, including triples and two doubles. He led a 5-game win with three hits and three RBIs.
Alvarez set an ALCS record of .522 (12 for 23) with one Homer, three doubles, three and six RBIs in Houston’s six-game win. He’s had nine hits in his last 13 hits.
Catcher Martin Maldonado played defensive play in a penalty shoot-out to finish in Game Seven, with Houston leading 2-0.
This would be Baker’s second trip to the Fall Classic as a manager and the first since he led the San Francisco Giants to the NL banner in 2002. As a player, he’s gone three times with the Dodgers, winning them all in 1981.
“Hey, I’m going back to the World Championships!” Baker said to a cheering crowd at Minute Maid Park.
For Houston, it was a team victory with all aspects of the game he used to win the AL West title and beat the Chicago White Sox in the AL Division Series. The Astros also won the playoff, without a hit from the superstars Jose Altov and Carlos Correa – Alex Bregman scored two goals and scored a run.
“We have a little bit of everything,” Altuve said.
Boston’s best shot to score came in seventh. The wild card Red Sox had contestants in the beginning and third with one of their own after a single by Alex Verdugo. But Kendall Grafman hit knockout Travis Shaw and gave Maldonado a perfect throw for Correa, who was covering second, to beat Verdugo there and finish the inning.
Maldonado hit his chest with glee as Graveman and Correa pumped their fists in celebration amid a roar from the 42,718 crowd.
Kyle Tucker broke the break with Homer from three runs with two wins for eighth. Television cameras flashed in front of duo Craig Beggio and Jeff Bagwell at the Hall of Fame in Houston, who stood together and cheered as Tucker circled the rules.
Asked to describe these stars, Biggio, who led the team to its first world championship, said simply: “They’re just good.”
Ryan Presley closed it at nine. The Red Sox, who looked so great at the start of the season, suffered two goals in their last game.
“I think we’re definitely frustrated right now,” said Nathan Evaldi, Red Sox writer. “Obviously we wanted to win this game, win the series and go to the world championship. Nobody expected us to be here. We proved a lot of people wrong.”
Bergman scored twice in the first half before an Alvarez brace put the Astros 1-0 ahead. Hernandez was in a position to catch him, but he bounced his arm under his glove and fell into place.
Boston and their back-to-back attackers made it seem like the Red Sox were in complete control of the series after Game 3, but as the long flybys by Alvarez proved, they didn’t have a firm grip on things.
The Astros, backed by their young pitchers and the offense of rediscovering, won the next two games on aggregate 18-3 to take them home with a win away from the world championship.
“It’s a relentless team,” Correa said. “We hold on to each other. We are family. We resist and never give up.”
Framber Valdez took the Astros to a Game 5 win at Fenway Park, then their rising stars, García and Alvarez, did the rest.
Alvarez tripled with no outs in sixth to chase Josh Taylor and Tanner Hook sinking Korea. Tucker then slapped a kick straight at first baseman Kyle Schwarber who flagged Correa in unassisted double play as Alvarez slid safely home to make it 2-0.
Eovaldi got the win on a strong start to Game 2, but was assigned to lose in Game 4 after giving up the go-ahead after coming in with a tie in Game 9.
On Friday, he allowed five strokes and one round as the Red Sox lost a playoff when he first started after entering the game 5-0 on his start.
García was the first bowler to take a heavy hit to sixth place from a playoff playoff since the Mets’ Noah Syndergaard’s sixth place win against the Giants in the 2016 NL wild card game.
García allowed Schwarber to hit wild ground after a strike to open the match and Verdugo walked with one per second. He then settled down, sitting for the next 13 by five strokes, before Hernandez took Boston’s first hit by a three by two for sixth. Garcia finished with seven strokes.
Phil Matton took over and Raphael Devers retired to finish the run.
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Boston manager Alex Cora has heard speculation that the Astros are transmitting cues from the rules and said the Red Sox are protecting themselves from it.
“It’s not about technology or other things,” Cora said. “There are things that happen on the field that have to be guarded. The same way teams play against us, we play defense against other teams. We didn’t just do it against the Yankees, we did it against Reese. It’s the nature of the game. We’re ready for it.”
Cora knows best about Houston’s history of signal-stealing after the head coach was off the bench during the 2017 season when they were found to have broken the rules by using a TV camera to steal the Hunters’ signal.
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The Astros will appear for the fourth time in the World Championships. They lost on their first try, and were swept away by the White Sox in 2005.