BOSTON – The dancing didn’t stop. Neither did the home runs.
This postseason, the Tiësto remix of Calum Scott’s "Dancing on My Own" has become the Red Sox anthem. The song was blasting in the clubhouse when the Red Sox defeated the Tampa Bay Rays after winning the ALDS. The song was played inside the TD Garden last Saturday during the Bruins game when they showed Red Sox highlights. On Sunday, Christian Arroyo danced to the song inside Gillette Stadium while the Patriots took on the Dallas Cowboys.
That seemed appropriate on Monday during Game 3 of the American League Championship Series.
The Red Sox and the Fenway faithful had plenty of reasons to dance on this night. That’ll happen when your offense continues to hit grand slams, home runs and your starter delivers one of Boston's best starts of the postseason en route to a 12-3 Red Sox win.
Four home runs combined with a quality start from Eduardo Rodriguez pushed the Red Sox to a 2-1 series lead over the Astros with the next two games at home.
Rodriguez pitched 6.2 innings with seven strikeouts, four runs in two combined starts combined in the ALDS. On Monday, he went six innings with seven strikeouts and three runs in the win.
Here's how Boston took the series lead:
The Red Sox grand slam party continued
After two grand slams in Game 2, the Red Sox were at it again. For Houston starter Jose Urquidy, the second inning is where it came apart. The Houston starter didn't make it to the third, allowing six runs, five earned, in just 1.2 innings pitched.
Urquidy walked Alex Verdugo, gave up a double to J.D. Martinez and walked Hunter Renfroe to load the bases with one out. Christian Vazquez ripped a single to right field to drive in the game’s first run. Then what looked like Christian Arroyo inning-ending double play, turned into a nightmare for Houston. Arroyo’s grounder was bobbled by Astros second baseman Jose Altuve, allowing another run to score and keep the bases loaded.
That error cost Houston four runs.
The next batter, Kyle Schwarber, sent a 93-mph fastball 430 feet over the right field wall for a grand slam, giving the Red Sox a 6-0 lead. That gave the Red Sox three grand slams this postseason, making them the first team to accomplish that feat in a single series. The only other team to hit three grand slams in the playoffs was the 1998 Atlanta Braves.
Eduardo Rodriguez looked stronger
Eduardo Rodriguez came into Monday’s matchup with a fastball that averaged 92.6 mph this season. It was clear in the first inning that the left-hander had more juice for the Astros.
Rodriguez hovered around 95 and hit 96 in that first frame, which sat the Astros down 1-2-3. Rafael Devers made a nice play, a dive and a strong throw, to get Alex Bregman to end that inning. The Red Sox starter didn’t need any help in the second, striking out the next three Astros batters he faced. Yordan Alvarez, Carlos Correa and Kyle Tucker never looked comfortable against Rodriguez’s mid-90s fastball, low-90s cutter and a low 80s sweeping slider.
Rodriguez struck out five through three clean innings, but got into trouble in the fourth. He gave up a two-out, three-run homer to Kyle Tucker as Houston cut into the Red Sox lead, 9-3.
After a rocky 34-pitch, fourth inning, Rodriguez was back in control in the fifth inning. The lefty needed just nine pitches to sit Houston down in order 1-2-3. That allowed Rodriguez to pitch into the sixth inning for the first time in over a month (Sept. 13 against Seattle). There, he sat down Houston in order, again.
Red Sox set a franchise postseason home run record
There was no stopping the Red Sox offense on Monday – even after Urquidy came out of the game.
With a new pitcher, the errors piled up for the Astros and the score kept going up for the Sox. In the third inning, it just got better in Boston. An already loud Fenway Park became deafening as the Sox extended their lead, 9-0.
Once again, the Red Sox capitalized on a Houston mistake. Following a Renfroe walk, the outfielder stole second while Astros catcher Martin Maldonado fired the ball into center field. The error pushed Renfroe to third and the next batter, Vazquez, shot a bloop single into left field to extend the Sox lead.
It didn’t stop there.
On the next Yimi Garcia pitch, Arroyo hit a 2-run homer over the Green Monster. That turned out to be the first of three home runs to go over the leftfield wall. In the sixth inning, Martinez hit a 2-run homer and in the eighth, it was Rafael Devers who hit a solo shot – both over that wall.
That gave the Red Sox 20 home runs this postseason, breaking their franchise record of 19 set in 2003.
