BOSTON -- A strong start from
That familiar October feeling is back at Fenway Park, where the home team is 4-0 this postseason.\n\nThis, after the Red Sox hammered the Astros, 12-3, in Game 3 of the American League Championship Series before a revved-up home crowd of 37,603 on Monday night.\n\n• 7 amazing stats from Boston's Game 3 romp\n\n\"Today was as close as we've been to a perfect game, to be honest with you,\" said Cora. \"We pitched well, played great defense, we ran the bases. We were very aggressive in a lot of aspects, so tonight is one of those that you feel good about.\"
Boston, which played the underdog role well in a 92-win regular season and again in this postseason (the Rays and Astros were both favored to beat Cora's club), is now just two wins away from the World Series.\n\nIf the Red Sox have it their way, they will finish this ALCS off at home by winning the next two days. In all best-of-seven postseason series tied 1-1, the Game 3 winner has gone on to win the series 66 of 95 times (69%).
\"I think we play one game every day,\" said catcher
\"Offensively, this is the best we've been the whole season, and they're locked in right now,\" Cora said.\n\nMeanwhile, the heavy-hitting Astros have been outslugged and outpitched by the Red Sox in a big way over these last two games. Houston's 5-4 win in Game 1 now feels like a long time ago.
\n\nHowever, momentum can turn quickly this time of year and the Red Sox will try to make sure that doesn't happen.\n\n\"We'll be ready for tomorrow,\" Cora said. \"That's a really good team out there. It's never comfortable with them. We got to be ready.\"\n\nSpeaking of ready, it was Rodriguez who set the tone in Game 3 by coming out of the gate with three scoreless innings. The Astros haven't had a starter go as many as three innings in this series.
\n\nWhile E-Rod went six strong innings (five hits, three runs, no walks, seven strikeouts), Astros righty José Urquidy was lifted with two outs in what snowballed into a six-run second inning for the surging Sox.\n\nThe biggest swing came off the bat of Schwarber, who unloaded for Boston's third slam of the series -- and in the last two games. The Red Sox are the first team in postseason history to have three grand slams in one series.
Schwarber gripped and ripped for the first homer of his career on a 3-0 count. Including the postseason, Schwarber came in 1-for-8 in his career when he put the ball in play on a 3-0 count.\n\nThat 430-foot moonshot to right, which boomed off the lefty slugger's bat at 114 mph, put Fenway into a frenzy, and it stayed that way for most of the night.\n\n• Papi's must-see reaction to Schwarber's slam\n\n\"That gave me a headache, and I loved it,\" Schwarber said of the deafening roars as he rounded the bases. \"I loved every second of it. Like I said, this is what you live for, right? This is it.\"
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