BOSTON — It was low-scoring, tense, and decided by the smallest of margins—exactly the kind of game that keeps you watching until the very last out. In the end, it was Cam Smith who provided the decisive blow, lacing a two-run single to left in the top of the tenth inning to lift the Houston Astros past the Boston Red Sox, 3-1, and take the series finale.
Houston’s lone regulation run came in the sixth inning, when Jose Altuve doubled to send Christian Walker to third, and Walker scored on Matthews’ sacrifice fly to tie the game at one, though Altuve was thrown out at third trying to advance on the play. That’s where it stayed through nine innings of careful, grinding baseball.
Houston entered the tenth with Yordan Alvarez at second as the placed runner. Isaac Paredes drew a walk, and Braden Shewmake reached on a fielder’s choice when Red Sox reliever Zack Kelly, who had just entered in relief of Aroldis Chapman, committed a fielding error, allowing Alvarez to advance to third. Matthews walked to load the bases. Altuve sent a chopper to shortstop, and with Paredes hesitating between second and third, Boston turned a 6-2-5 double play—cutting down Alvarez at home and Paredes at third—a sequence that threatened to unravel the inning entirely.
But Smith kept it alive. With two outs and the bases still loaded, he lined a two-strike sweeper off the Green Monster, scoring Shewmake and Altuve to make it 3-1. Matthews tried to score from first on the play and was thrown out at the plate—Duran to Marcelo Mayer to Willson Contreras to Carlos Narváez—leaving runs on the table, but the two that crossed were enough.
Bryan Abreu closed it out in the bottom of the tenth, though not without a scare. He had already made things interesting in the ninth, when he threw away a Willson Contreras comebacker, putting the catcher at second base. Abreu escaped that jam with a strikeout and a groundout, then returned for the tenth, navigated a bases-loaded, one-out situation, and induced Ceddanne Rafaela to ground into an inning-ending double play from shortstop Carlos Correa to first baseman Paredes to seal the win. Abreu improves to 1-2.
The starting pitching deserved better than a ten-inning grind. Cody Bolton worked 2.1 innings before giving way to AJ Blubaugh, who delivered 3.2 innings of one-run ball—the lone blemish a solo home run by Duran in the fifth, his third of the year. Steven Okert, Enyel De Los Santos, and Abreu combined to hold Boston scoreless the rest of the way. The Astros struck out eleven Red Sox hitters in total.
Zack Kelly took the loss for Boston, surrendering two runs—one earned—in one inning of work.
The Astros return home to Daikin Park on Monday to open a three-game series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Espada confirmed in his postgame comments that Steven Okert will serve as the opener, with first pitch scheduled for 7:10 p.m. CDT.
Heading to Daikin Park soon? Check the Astros promotions schedule before your next game.