Before the start of the game in Fenway Park, the ceremonial first pitch was thrown by former Red Sox-player Rico Petrocelli.
The 74-year short stop/second baseman played his entire Major League-career for the BoSox.
After making his debut in 1963, he played for the team in 1965-1976.
Also before the game, there was a moment of silence to remember the victims of the tragedy in Las Vegas last week.
Houston struck early, scoring three runs in the top of the first inning off of starter Doug Fister.
In eight previous postseason-starts, Fister was 4-2 with an 1.78 ERA.
This ERA is the lowest ever for a starting pitcher with 50 or more innings since the first first League Championship Series were played in 1969.
But today, his ERA increased a lot and he had to be relieved in the top of the second inning.
In the top of the first, George Springer led off with a single, advanced on a wild pitch and scored the first run when next hitter Josh Reddick also singled.
Reddick moved to second base on the throw, advanced to third on a grounder and scored when Carlos Correa homered.
And that made it a 3-0 score!
Houston appeared to do some scoring again in the second inning when Carlos Beltran led off with a walk and Yulieski Gurriel singled.
Hereafter, Brian McCann lined out to centerfielder Jackie Bradley, Jr. and that led to a pitching change.
Boston-Manager John Farrell clearly was not happy with what he saw and brought in new pitcher Joe Kelly.
However, he began with a wild pitch that moved the runners to second and third base.
A grounder then accounted for the second out and hereafter, rightfielder Mookie Betts made a great running catch on a hit by Josh Reddick, leaning over the short fence in rightfield, to end the at bat.
...Hanley Ramirez was 4-for-4 with a double,...
...2 runs and 3 RBI's for Boston; On the photo,...
...he hits for the Dominican Republic with...
...whom he won the 2013 World Baseball Classic...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
After having left a runner behind on first base in the first inning, Boston scored a run in the second at bat off of starter Brad Peacock.
Boston got the bases loaded when Mitch Moreland led off with a single, Hanley Ramirez followed with another single and Rafael Devers walked.
A run was then scored on a single by Sandy Leon, but hereafter, a strikeout, force out and line out followed.
In the bottom of the fourth, Boston struck and took over the lead.
Brad Peacock struckout the first two batters, but then gave up a double to Mitch Moreland, who scored on a following single by Hanley Ramirez.
After the ball bounced back from the 'Green Monster' in leftfield, an error was made, enabling Ramirez to advance to second base.
That led to a pitching change.
Francisco Liriano took over, but his second delivery to Rafael Devers ended up in the stands in right-centerfield for a 2-run homerun that put Boston ahead, 4-3.
Last Thursday, Devers became the youngest ever position player to play in a postseason-game for Boston with his 20 years and 346 days.
Only two other Boston-players played in a postseason-game before they were 21, which were Babe Ruth (1915) and Ken Brett (1967).
Today, Devers also became the first-ever Boston-player to hit a postseason-homerun before turning 21.
There are only four other players, who were younger than Devers to homer in a postseason.
The youngest was Andruw Jones, who was 19 in 1996.
The others are Bryce Harper, Manny Machado and Miguel Cabrera.
In the top of the fourth inning, David Price had taken over the pitching for Boston, did great and threw four scoreless innings.
Houston left a runner behind on first base in the fourth, sixth and seventh inning.
In the fifth, Josh Reddick and José Altuve led off for Houston with singles, but a strikeout and two force outs followed.
Boston took more distance by rallying for six runs in the bottom of the seventh inning.
After Andrew Benintendi led off with a walk, four consecutive basehits followed.
Mookie Betts accounted for the first one, which led to a pitching change.
Chris Devenski took over, but was greeted with a single by Mitch Moreland that loaded the bases.
Hanley Ramirez then doubled in two runs and Rafael Devers followed with a runscoring single to make it a 7-3 score.
Another pitching change followed and Joe Musgrove took the mound.
With one out, Jackie Bradley, Jr. drove the ball into rigftfield.
There, rightfielder Josh Reddick went after the ball, appeared to catch it while he ran into the wall after which the ball jumped from his glove into the stands for a 3-run homerun.
When he would not have made contact with the wall, the ball probably would have stayed playable or could have been an out.
Now, it was a homerun that lifted the lead to 10-3.
Addison Reed took over from David Price in the top of the eighth and Carson Smith closed the game for Boston in the ninth.
Houston left a runner behind on first base in the eighth.
In the ninth, George Springer led off for the Astros with a single, but the Boston-defense then turned a double play.
Hereafter, José Altuve singled and moved to second base on a fielder's indifference, but hereafter Smith ended the game with a strikeout.
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Boston avoids sweep with convincing win against Houston
BOSTON, Massachusetts (USA) -
Boston Red Sox recorded a convincing 10-3 win against Houston Astros on Sunday (October 8) to win Game 3 of the best-of-five American League Division Series.
With the win, Boston avoided a 3-game sweep and forced at least a fourth game.
Houston won both the opener on Thursday, as well as the second game on Friday with a 8-2 score.
The Series continues on Monday in Boston.
Boston initially faced an early 3-0 deficit in the first inning, but took a 4-3 lead in the third.
In the seventh, Boston rallied for six runs to increase the lead to 10-3.