It is the third game of the ALCS and we are looking forward to seeing who will have the ability to take the lead in this series, after everything was tied up after the second game. The Red Sox are now playing at home for three games and would certainly be hopeful they can use this to their advantage.
Look below to find our free MLB Picks for tonight’s American League Championship Series Game Three between the Boston Red Sox and Houston Astros!
Houston Astros @ Boston Red Sox (Game 3) – 8.08pm EDT
Wow, what a game from the Boston Red Sox! Two Grand Slam home runs in the first two innings, talk about entertainment. It was pretty hard for the Astros to come back from that eight run deficit, but they still certainly tried, with the final score, 9-5. With things all tied up, the series now moves to Boston for three games.
Katherine Mouradian
Things are all tied up leading into this third game, and now we have three games of this series in Boston. It will be interesting to see if the Red Sox will be good enough to take advantage of this and lead the series. All it took was two really amazing hits from the Red Sox and they were up 8-0 in the score by the end of the second innings, courtesy of two (yes two) Grand Slams early in the game.
The Astros were never really in the game last time out, but they did still score five of their own runs. The Astros have the best offense in the league, but the Red Sox have one of the best offenses in the league as well. When you look at the Astros batting average in the playoffs, they have an average of .286. Urquidy will be getting his first start of this postseason, after his scheduled start in the ALDS was postponed. In the final month of the regular season, he had a 4.25 ERA, which was across 29.2 innings.
Wheels up to Boston.#ForTheH ✈️ @united pic.twitter.com/f7c9a6uHOc
— Houston Astros (@astros) October 17, 2021
What a bounce back it was for the Red Sox, and they wasted no time getting into a winning position in the second game. Martinez and Devers both hit a Grand Slam home run in the first and second innings, respectively, to take the Red Sox out to an 8-0 lead. Their batting average sits at .318 for the seven postseason games so far. It is looking likely that Rodriguez will be starting on the mound for the Red Sox, his previous game was against the Rays in Game Four of the ALDS, in which he allowed two runs across five innings. So far this season Rodriguez has a record of 13-8, with an ERA of 4.74.
Urquidy is a little bit of an unknown quantity for the Astros, as we haven’t seen him pitch this postseason, and we all know the postseason is a different beast compared to the regular season. This game is very difficult to pick seeing though both teams have similar offensive numbers and the starting pitchers also have similar stats. I will have to give the edge to the Red Sox however, as they are coming off an awesome win, and they are playing at home as well. I’ll be on the Red Sox for this game.
Katherine’s MLB Pick: Boston Red Sox (-112)
Mike Su
The Red Sox showed the ability to bounce back from any loss like they have throughout the playoffs. The Astros will need to be wary of a surging Red Sox team who had similar attics against the number 1 seed, Tampa Bay Rays.
After a Game 1 loss, the Red Sox took over and dominated the rest of the series against the Rays, and the Astros will be looking to avoid a repeat. The series moves back to Boston, where the Red Sox are relatively strong with a 49-32 record. However, during the regular season, the Astros played well in Boston securing 2 of the 3 games.
It’s good to be home. pic.twitter.com/01CDPOVs68
— Red Sox (@RedSox) October 18, 2021
Now in Game 3, the Astros are looking to bounce back from a 4 run loss by starting Jose Urquidy who averaged 3.62 ERA, a good 0.99 WHIP and a great 8-3 record. Urquidy has played just one game against the Red Sox this season but held them to just 1 run in 6 innings.
The Red Sox will be starting Eduardo Rodriguez who wasn’t great this year with a 4.74 ERA and 1.39 WHIP but he had a decent 13-8 record. Rodriguez has also been bad against the Astros this season allowing 13 runs in 12 innings. However, Rodriguez did play well against the Rays in his last game allowing just 2 runs in 5 innings. Rodriguez will be the wild card in this game. I think we should expect a very high scoring matchup in this game.
Mike’s MLB Pick: Over 9 (-118)
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*Odds and spreads correct at time of publication, courtesy of FanDuel.
