J.D. Martinez and Rafael Devers each belted a grand slam to power the visiting Boston Red Sox to a 9-5 victory over the Houston Astros on Saturday in Game 2 of the American League Championship Series.
Martinez gave the Red Sox a 4-0 lead in the first inning and Devers doubled the team’s advantage in the second. The blasts made Boston the first team in postseason history to record two grand slams in one game.
Enrique Hernandez launched his third homer of the ALCS and franchise-tying fifth of the postseason to help the Red Sox salvage a split of the first two games of the best-of-seven series. Game 3 is in Boston on Monday.
The offense was more than enough for Nathan Eovaldi (2-0), who picked up the win after allowing three runs on five hits in 5 1/3 innings.
Boston set the tone early by loading the bases before Martinez deposited a 1-0 fastball from rookie Luis Garcia (0-1) over the wall in right field. The grand slam was the first by a Red Sox player since Jackie Bradley Jr. in Game 3 of the 2018 ALCS.
Boston kept the pressure on in the second inning after Kevin Plawecki worked a walk off Garcia, who exited with right knee discomfort. Jake Odorizzi relieved Garcia and permitted singles to both Christian Arroyo and Hernandez before Devers sent a 1-1 cutter over the wall in right field.
Hernandez continued his sterling postseason in the fourth inning by crushing a 2-1 splitter from Odorizzi over the wall in left field. The homer was his fifth of this postseason, tying Todd Walker (2003) and David Ortiz (2004, 2013) for the franchise record.
The homer also pushed Hernandez’s total bases mark to 35, which is tied with Daniel Murphy (2015) for second in a seven-game postseason stretch in a single season. Carlos Beltran had 38 in 2004.
Houston responded in the fourth inning, courtesy of Kyle Tucker’s two-out, RBI double and Yuli Gurriel’s two-run single.
Eovaldi settled down and two relievers bridged the gap to Darwinzon Hernandez, who yielded solo homers to Gurriel and Jason Castro before Ryan Brasier induced Jose Altuve to fly out to end the game.
–Field Level Media