Houston is one win away from advancing
Valdez deals, lineup mashes as Astros take 3-2 ALCS lead with Game 5 win over Red Sox
Oct 20, 2021, 7:43 pm
Framber Valdez pitched eight brilliant innings of one-run ball in ALCS Game 5 for the Astros in the win over the Red Sox. Photo by Elsa/Getty Images
Framber Valdez pitched eight brilliant innings of one-run ball in ALCS Game 5 for the Astros in the win over the Red Sox.
The playoffs of any sport are a breeding ground for dramatics, and MLB's league championship series with pennants on the line are no exception. Midway through Game 4 the night prior, the Astros found themselves in a desperate position: down 2-1 in the game and 2-1 in the series, before roaring to life to take the game late and even the series 2-2.
With the stage resetting in the ALCS with it becoming a best-of-three, either team could end Game 5 with a firm grasp on momentum. Luckily for Houston, it was them, as they would get a terrific start on the mound and continued success at the plate to put them a win away from moving on to the 2021 World Series.
Final Score: Astros 9, Red Sox 1
ALCS Series (Best of Seven): Houston leads 3-2
Winning Pitcher: Framber Valdez
Losing Pitcher: Chris Sale
Valdez deals in much-needed successful start
After getting a combined 20 outs from their starters in the first four games, eight of which came from him in Game 1, Framber Valdez matched that and more with a gem in Game 5. He took a perfect game into the fifth, retiring the first twelve batters he faced to keep Boston not just off the board but off the bases. The Red Sox looked to break up his rhythm in the bottom of the fifth, getting a leadoff single before getting another on base by a hit by pitch, but Valdez would induce a timely double play then finish the inning with another groundout.
In the sixth, he stranded another runner, working around a one-out double to keep his efficient night going. In the bottom of the seventh, Boston would give him his only blemish on the night, a one-out solo home run, but he would regroup to finish the inning. After a lengthy top-half, Valdez returned to the mound in the bottom of the eighth, getting one more 1-2-3 frame to cap off his fantastic outing. His final line: 8.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, 1 HR, 93 P.
Alvarez leads another night of potent offense for Houston
Yordan Alvarez to the Green Monster 🚀 pic.twitter.com/xN81HaHqlc
— MLB (@MLB) October 20, 2021
Meanwhile, Houston's offense was backing him up with plenty of run support. Yordan Alvarez led the way, starting the scoring for the game with a leadoff solo home run off of Chris Sale in the top of the second inning. After remaining a 1-0 game into the sixth, the Astros put together a big frame, much like the ninth inning in Game 4.
After a leadoff walk to Jose Altuve followed by an error to put a second runner on, Alvarez would tag Sale again, this time getting a two-RBI double to chase Boston's starter out of the game. They continued scoring against Boston's bullpen, getting three more runs with two outs in the inning, one on an RBI single by Yuli Gurriel, then a two-RBI single by Jose Siri, pushing the lead to 6-0. The top of Houston's order was up again in the next inning, and after a single to start the inning and then advancing to second on an error, Altuve would score on an RBI single by Brantley, making it 7-0.
Astros take Game 5 and control of the ALCS
After Valdez allowed the solo homer in the seventh and held the 7-1 lead in the eighth, Houston padded their lead in the top of the ninth. They loaded the bases with a single, a walk, and an intentional walk, setting up a two-out two-RBI single by Yuli Gurriel to make it an eight-run lead at 9-1. Ryne Stanek entered looking to finish things off in the bottom of the ninth in a quiet, much less filled Fenway Park. He would do so as the Astros go back on top in the ALCS 3-2, heading back to Houston needing one win in front of their home crowd to move on to their third World Series in five years.
Up Next: The Astros and Red Sox will have a day off on Thursday before picking up the series on Friday. While the time and place of Game 6 is known, Friday at 7:08 PM Central from Minute Maid Park, neither team has determined their pitching situation for that game.
It’s been an excellent weeklong stretch of games for the Astros tempered by the news of yet another season-ending injury to a starting pitcher. To get the bad news out of the way, it comes as no surprise that Ronel Blanco needs Tommy John surgery and is done until at least the middle of next season. While Blanco had not been nearly as good through nine 2025 starts as he was last season, he was still taking his regular return and on average getting into the sixth inning. Blanco turns 32 years old at the end of August. He’s not even salary arbitration-eligible until 2027. That last fact may be good news for him. The Astros will likely keep Blanco next year in hopes he can contribute in the second half of the season, since they will pay him barely the Major League minimum salary ($780,000 next year) That’s in contrast to Jose Urquidy, who in the midst of his salary arbitration years would have cost about three and a half million dollars to keep, so the Astros non-tendered him.
With Blanco joining Hayden Wesneski in the “See you next year! Hopefully.” club, it struck me as interesting that the Astros let Lance McCullers throw 102 pitches in his Wednesday outing vs. the Athletics. That’s eleven more than he had thrown in any of his prior four starts. McCullers holding up physically would be a huge boost, but the new essentials in the Astros’ rotation are Framber Valdez and Hunter Brown. Framber has settled in to the tune of a 1.93 earned run average over his last four starts. Brown’s season ERA is 2.00. Brown has had five days of rest before all eleven of his starts this season. This Sunday is Brown’s presently next scheduled outing. He would work on four days of rest if on the mound Sunday against the Rays.
Taking the last two games from the Mariners was huge (for the second half of May anyway). Keeping the good times rolling by sweeping the two-game miniseries from the A’s was less significant but still nice. Maybe not quite nice enough to have Frank “The Tank” from the movie Old School belting out “We’re going streaking!!!” but it did give the Astros their first four game winning streak of the season. They still have not lost more than three straight.
On a heater!
Speaking of streaking, time for annual mention of one of my all-time favorite baseball factoids. The 1916 New York Giants hold the MLB record for the longest win streak with an incredible 26 in a row. Earlier in the season the Giants ripped off 17 in a row. Combine the two streaks and that’s 43-0! The 1916 New York Giants finished in fourth place. In all their other games the Giants went 43-66. The American League’s longest ever winning streak is of fairly recent vintage. The 2007 Cleveland Indians won 22 straight. There have been only two other winning streaks since 1900 of at least 20 games. The 1935 Chicago Cubs won 21 straight. The Art Howe-managed 2002 Oakland A’s won 20 in a row, and were the inspiration for the movie Moneyball. The Astros have three 12 game winning streaks as the longest in their history.
Expect the unexpected
Tuesday’s win over the A’s brought the Astros to the one-third completed point of the regular season. Isaac Paredes was definitely their best offensive player to that milepost. His “on pace for” numbers were the best on the ballclub 33 home runs and 93 runs batted in. Paredes also led in runs scored with 29. The last Astro to lead the team in all three of those categories was Alex Bregman who did it in both 2018 and 2019. That Bregman was clearly a better player than this Paredes, but Isaac healthy and making “only” 6.625 million dollars this season is a heck of a lot better value than Bregman at 40 mil for the Red Sox, especially given that while Bregman was off to a sensational start for Boston, he’s now out for at least a month with a quad injury.
Hunter Brown is on pace to win 20 games. The last Astro to get there was Gerrit Cole on the last day of the 2019 regular season. The day before that Justin Verlander won his 21st game.
The Cleveland Guardians’ bullpen was awesome last season, by far the best in the league with four relievers who each pitched in at least 74 games posting ERAs of 1.92 or lower, headlined by closer Emmanuel Clase’s microscopic 0.61. One-third of the way through this season for the Astros: Bryan Abreu sat at 1.90, Steven Okert 1.82, Josh Hader 1.57, Bryan King 1.52.
For Astro-centric conversation, join Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and me for the Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast which drops each Monday afternoon, with an additional episode now on Thursday. Click here to catch!
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