After last night's dramatics by Steve Pearce and Jackie Bradley Jr plus the outstanding outing by Eovaldi, the Red Sox now have a 2-1 series lead with Rick Porcello on the hill tonight.
1.) Following Eovaldi's performance won't be easy as he is still the only Sox pitcher to go beyond the 5th inning in both of his playoff starts. Porcello has already staked his claim to fame as he has twice provided that stable eighth-inning bridge to Kimbrel in two outings out of the bullpen.
However, tonight he is facing a tough Astros team who were limited to just two runs last night, and are like manager AJ Hinch said about Mookie Betts a couple nights ago, are a "ticking-time-bomb" Springer leads the Astros hitters with a .417 average, followed by Yuri Gurriel at an even .400 and Carlos Correra at .375 and Alex Bregman at .333.
SO keeping these hitters off of the bases and limiting the damage like Eovaldi was able to do will be a big key in hopefully securing a 3-1 series lead.
2.) Sox hitters need to keep the foot on the pedal and continue to push and put pressure on the Astros pitching staff along with their catchers who have already shown a tendency to be unable to catch pitches in the dirt. Seeing how the top of the lineup continues from the first pitch of the game to show that they are controlling the strike zone as well as forcing Astros pitchers to throw more pitches and when Sox hitters do get their pitch they are doing damage to it.
I mentioned yesterday, that having JD Martinez's ability to heat up was would be a big impact on the Red Sox being able to win. Well, he was able to do that as in the first inning he smoked an RBI double down the rightfield line scoring Mookie who had singled and moved to second on a base hit by Andrew Benintendi.
So watch for Martinez to continue to do damage and for the Red Sox to look to make an initial score.
3.) Like always in any game, there are going to be unsung heroes and last night was no different. Steve Pearce stepping up after the Astros had tied the game in the previous half inning and crushing a 452ft blast off of Joe Smith was the first of many big moments. It was followed by Brock Holt and Mitch Moreland getting hit by pitches (Moreland's forced in a run making the score 4-2) It was then followed by JBJ who had been struggling heading into the ALCS but in both games 2 and 3 he has started to heat up driving in 7 runs over those two games with a bases-clearing double in game 2 and then last nights dagger grand slam, which secured the 8-2 game.
Look for someone to once again step up and have their moment. My guess is that it will be Rafael Devers who has played sparingly but with the inconsistent and frustrating play of Nunez who had to exit game 3 early after he once again reinjured his ankle. I see Devers having a huge game against Charlie Morton.
So there ya go Sox fans, I sense another close game but yet I see the Sox offense continuing to fire on all cylinders and Porcello to dominate and the Sox winning and having a chance to clinch a trip to the World Series tomorrow night!
1.) Following Eovaldi's performance won't be easy as he is still the only Sox pitcher to go beyond the 5th inning in both of his playoff starts. Porcello has already staked his claim to fame as he has twice provided that stable eighth-inning bridge to Kimbrel in two outings out of the bullpen.
However, tonight he is facing a tough Astros team who were limited to just two runs last night, and are like manager AJ Hinch said about Mookie Betts a couple nights ago, are a "ticking-time-bomb" Springer leads the Astros hitters with a .417 average, followed by Yuri Gurriel at an even .400 and Carlos Correra at .375 and Alex Bregman at .333.
SO keeping these hitters off of the bases and limiting the damage like Eovaldi was able to do will be a big key in hopefully securing a 3-1 series lead.
2.) Sox hitters need to keep the foot on the pedal and continue to push and put pressure on the Astros pitching staff along with their catchers who have already shown a tendency to be unable to catch pitches in the dirt. Seeing how the top of the lineup continues from the first pitch of the game to show that they are controlling the strike zone as well as forcing Astros pitchers to throw more pitches and when Sox hitters do get their pitch they are doing damage to it.
I mentioned yesterday, that having JD Martinez's ability to heat up was would be a big impact on the Red Sox being able to win. Well, he was able to do that as in the first inning he smoked an RBI double down the rightfield line scoring Mookie who had singled and moved to second on a base hit by Andrew Benintendi.
So watch for Martinez to continue to do damage and for the Red Sox to look to make an initial score.
3.) Like always in any game, there are going to be unsung heroes and last night was no different. Steve Pearce stepping up after the Astros had tied the game in the previous half inning and crushing a 452ft blast off of Joe Smith was the first of many big moments. It was followed by Brock Holt and Mitch Moreland getting hit by pitches (Moreland's forced in a run making the score 4-2) It was then followed by JBJ who had been struggling heading into the ALCS but in both games 2 and 3 he has started to heat up driving in 7 runs over those two games with a bases-clearing double in game 2 and then last nights dagger grand slam, which secured the 8-2 game.
Look for someone to once again step up and have their moment. My guess is that it will be Rafael Devers who has played sparingly but with the inconsistent and frustrating play of Nunez who had to exit game 3 early after he once again reinjured his ankle. I see Devers having a huge game against Charlie Morton.
So there ya go Sox fans, I sense another close game but yet I see the Sox offense continuing to fire on all cylinders and Porcello to dominate and the Sox winning and having a chance to clinch a trip to the World Series tomorrow night!
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