The Red Sox hold good in Game 4, facing the Astros in ALCS



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Eduardo Nunez loaded the four Gleyber Torres hoppers to third base and whipped the ball through the diamond. Steve Pearce stretches, falling on his chest for a sprawling hold. The referee reported: "Out!"

The Boston Red Sox gathered around Craig Kimbrel, an exhausted player, hugging and celebrating after the New York Yankees rally in the ninth inning.

But wait!

In 21st century baseball, the game does not always end, it seems, until the referees in downtown Manhattan are in agreement.

A crowd of 49,641 Yankee Stadium spectators questioned and the Red Sox stopped as they watched from the inside of the battlefield a suspended celebration, set on the field video card. central.

After 63 seconds that seemed much longer, the team leader, Mike Winters, heard the decision, removed his helmet, raised his right fist and made it official: the Red Sox beat the Yankees 4-3 on Tuesday evening to win Division 3 AL. -1, preparing a rematch in the playoffs with the World Series Astros champion.

"I've talked about it all season, so here we go," said Alex Cora, the Red Sox rookie coach, coach at Houston Bank last year. "Best of the seven, they know me, I know them, it should be fun."

JD Martinez and the Red Sox, who have 108 wins, have reached the AL Championship Series for the first time since Boston won the title in 2013. A year after a loss to Houston in a four-game win against ALDS, the Red Sox open the first leg of the best of seven against the 103 Astros victories on Saturday night at Fenway Park. Houston went 4-3 against Boston this year.

"Great to win this win," said Matt Barnes, a member of the Red Sox Relief Team, "but we have eight more."

New Jersey native Mets fan Rick Porcello held the Yankees to one point in five innings for his first playoff victory in 13 appearances. Barnes and Ryan Brasier then followed with a perfect run to protect a 4-1 lead.

The Ace of the Red Sox, Chris Sale, told Cora when he had arrived at the stadium he wanted to pitch, and he had followed him with an eighth of a 1-2. 3 in a rare relief appearance that extended the series of consecutive Yankees to 11.

New York had not done any pre-game before Kimbrel, who had been closer on seven occasions, had Aaron Judge on four courts leading to the ninth.

Didi Gregorius was out and Giancarlo Stanton was retired, Luke Voit went four runs, and Kimbrel hit Neil Walker on one leg for a next throw, forcing him to a 4-2 record.

Gary Sanchez took a 0-2 lead in the count, worked hard and sent a shot that made the crowd roar only so that Andrew Benintendi caught him on the alert trail on the left field, a few meters from a grand slam.

"I hit it well, but I stuck on it," said Sanchez through a translator.

Then came the torres bouncer.

"You never want to give up a game and go to a fifth game, so it's good that we can do it tonight," said Kimbrel, who got his second stop of the series.

One night after Boston broke its 16-1 record in a three-game replay spree, Martinez, Ian Kinsler and Nunez scored points in the third inning against CC Sabathia, who suffered defeat. For the second night in a row, Yankees rookie manager Aaron Boone was reluctant to remove his early pitcher.

When Boone brought in Zach Britton to start the fourth game, Christian Vazquez led the way with an opposite strike on the short porch in the right field for his first career playoff game.

Even the presence of Bucky Dent, star of the decisive start of the AL East 1978, at the ceremony of the first ceremonial throw, could have inspired the Yankees, who have 100 victories, to win 27-14. in the series, including 20-4 in the last two games. New York set a league record this year for most of the season's heats, but did not beat the Yankee Stadium goals and beat .214 in the series, including 3 for 14 by Gregorius, 1 for 15 by Andrew McCutchen and 3 for 15 by Sanchez.

Stanton, the grand acquisition of New York during the last off season, was 4 for 18 (.222) with no points produced.

"I do not want to experience the playoffs, I want to win everything," Stanton said.

Dent's victory over Fenway Park's green monster in 1978 earned the Yankees their second consecutive World Series title, but Boston eliminated their rival from the Bronx at the team's second consecutive meeting. In 2004 in the ALCS – with Barnes in the teenage crowd, looking for the Yankees – the Red Sox became the first team in the championship to overcome the 3-0 deficit in the playoffs, winning the last two matches on the road and sweeping the World Series for its first title since 1918.

Boston added championships in 2007 and 2013, becoming one of the baseball elite clubs. But the Red Sox were eliminated from the Division Series in 2016 and 17 had not reached the last four categories since their last title.

A 29-year-old skinny and bearded right-hander, Porcello lived in a traffic jam at Yankee Stadium in Chester, New Jersey. A 2007 graduate of West Orange's Seton Hall Prep, the baseball field has been renamed in his honor. A year later, he helped fund artificial artificial grass shelters and professional style shelters. The winner of the 2016 AL Cy Young Award is registered with a 0-3 record in 12 previous playoff appearances, including four starts.

He did not run until Brett Gardner made a sacrifice in the fifth inning, as Sabathia may be playing his last game for the Yankees. Aaron Hicks missed a two-point homer about 4 feet off a foul on the straight line.

Sabathia escaped a ground-up jam in the first game when Kinsler struck a flying stop that ended in Gardner's sleeve in front of the left field wall. Sabathia hit Benintendi on the right shoulder with a slider on his first throw of the third, Pearce sliced ​​a cutter in the center right to put the runners at the corners and Martinez made a sacrifice in the third inning for the second night straight away, giving him a series -high six RBI.

As David Robertson began to warm up, Kinsler scored a 1-2 on a Gardner jumping for a 2-0 lead and Nunez singled out his next run of the season on the next pitch.

New York starting pitchers allowed 15 points in 13 innings and Masahiro Tanaka was the only one to make a fourth-quarter exit. A sign that the Yankees could pursue the best free agent pitchers such as Dallas Keuchel and Patrick Corbin.

"I think we knocked on the door," said Boone, "about to become a championship club at the moment.We must continue to improve margins in all areas.Pitching is one of them."

Behind the plate

One night after three of his calls to first base had been reversed, Angel Hernandez was the referee of the plates. Benintendi was played after being called on a brittle ball with the bases loaded for the final on the eighth, a throw that could have been on the outside. Sabathia was livid. "I do not think Angel Hernandez should organize playoff games," he said. "He's absolutely terrible, he was terrible behind the plate today, he was terrible at first base." Major League Baseball declined to comment, spokesman Mike Teevan said.

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