Astros: The not so special Astros offense sweep the Indians in ALDS

This game was similar to all the other games in the ALDS for the Astros.

The Astros struggled a little against the Indians starting pitchers. That is not exactly true with Game 1 but go with it. Once Terry Francona went to the bullpen, the offense broke out. The Indians bullpen is not that special, and I can say that because we beat them. On the other side of the field, the Astros bullpen dominated, and the starting pitcher did as well. Unfortunately, the Indians didn’t trust their special rotation more.

Way back, after the Stros faced Mike Clevinger, he said, “they are loaded, but they don’t have anything that we don’t. They’re not that special!” As Trevor Bauer has learned, Astros fans have a good memory and will throw it back in your face. Bauer has blocked almost every Astros fan, but it doesn’t even matter. Houston is going to back to back American League Championship Series’. After this game, they didn’t go crazy on the field. Instead, they shook hands and gave hugs.

They waited till they got to the locker room.

When they got to the locker room, they went crazy after AJ Hinch gave his traditional toast spraying champagne everywhere. The Stros deserve to celebrate as they wait to see who they will play next between the Red Sox and the Yankees. This has become a regular event for the Astros who once again, found a way to win after the early struggles versus Clevinger. Bauer, once again, showed that he was human coming out of the bullpen.

While George Springer had the two homers in the game, the biggest hit belonged to Marwin Gonzalez, who hit the go-ahead two-run double in the seventh inning. The Astros piled on after that, including Springer’s second homer, extending the lead to 11-2. Will Harris allowed a run to score in the ninth but was able to close out the game.

Back to the Astros offense, they had 13 hits and eight walks today to score the 11 runs via MLB.com. Clevinger only gave up the one run in five innings, but the Astros worked his pitch count to 99 pitches. The Astros had five extra-base hits, including Carlos Correa’s first hit, a three-run homer that sent the Indians fans home. Tony Kemp did a good job getting on-base today, scoring two runs on a hit and two walks. Hinch started Kemp and Brian McCann today because left-handed hitters tend to do better versus Clevinger.

This team has very few holes in it, especially if Correa starts hitting. Whoever wins the other ALDS matchup has to be worried about facing the Stros, who will be able to throw out Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole in Games 1 and 2 as well as Games 5 and 6. This will give a good advantage to the Astros, who didn’t have to overuse the bullpen. This team is October ready! More to come!