The only concern for the Astros was whether their pitching would hold up. Their bullpen was overworked, Lance McCullers Jr. was out for the series and the Red Sox’ offense was scoring runs at a historic pace.
Then, Boston’s bats went cold. Over the final three games of the series, the Red Sox scored three runs and hit .111. That, after scoring 25 runs and posting a .296 average across Games 1-3.
Houston’s pitchers, with the help of astute observations from manager Dusty Baker, pitching coach Brent Strom and catcher Martín Maldonado, deserve a lot of the praise for the Astros’ flipping the series.