Astros Home Run Avalanche Buries Red Sox 10-2

Hunter Brown gets the easy win after a dominant five innings stretch.

Maybe the Massachusetts Transit Authority should close the Mass Turnpike when the Astros are in town. Astros baseballs flying out of Fenway Park are a menace to local commuters.

The Astros ended their recent home run drought in this series in Boston, smacking eight long balls in three games, and, lo, they swept one of their leading competitors in the wild card race on their home field, crushing the Red Sox in Game Three of the series 10-2.

Meanwhile, a supposedly depleted Astros rotation continued its recent dominance. After rookie Spencer Arrighetti struck out 13 yesterday, Hunter Brown was overwhelming today until he petered out in the sixth inning. He walked in a run, and his relief, Caleb Ferguson allowed an RBI single before retiring the side with a double play.

Nonethless, Brown finished his 5.1 innings striking out nine and hitting 99 on the gun on numerous occasions.

The Stros opened their scoring in a humble fashion, scoring a run on a wild pitch in the third inning. After that it was blitzkrieg.

Perhaps it was fortuitous that the Sox’s starter, James Paxton, left the game with a calf injury after two outs in the first inning. But I doubt it would have mattered much. In the fifth inning the Astros put up five runs, mostly on the strength of a 441 foot Alex Bregman three run homer over the Green Monster, his second in two days, followed by a Yordan Alvarez solo shot, his third in two days.

The Astros iced the game in the sixth with another four runs, highlighted by a Yainer Diaz two-RBI double and a Jeremy Pena two-run homer, also apparently out of the park.

The Red Sox intentionally walked Alvarez in front of Diaz, ignoring Diaz’s recent hot bat and yesterday’s bomb. Immediately after the free pass, the Red Sox TV announcers said, “Thank God, no Alvarez.” Diaz proved that even supplications to the Lord could not help the Red Sox today.

Besides their ten runs, the Astros had thirteen hits, including three each by Jose Altuve and Jeremy Pena, and two each by Yordan Alvarez and Alex Bregman.

The Astros travel to Florida to take on the Tampa Bay Rays at 5:50 CT. Framber Valdez goes to the mound to extend the Astros winning streak to six.

Box Score HERE.