Rafael Devers came off the injured list on Tuesday and drove in both runs, including the game winning solo homerun in the sixth inning as the Boston Red Sox topped the Houston Astros 2-1 at Minute Maid Park. Boston with the victory climbs back over .500 and wraps up a series win over the American League West Division leader. It is their first series win since late June when they swept the Guardians in Cleveland.
Houston (67-38) struck quickly against Boston starter Kutter Crawford. Jose Altuve led off the bottom of the first with a double, and the next hitter Yuli Gurriel singled to drive him in for a 1-0 lead. That was the end of the offense though for the Astros. The Red Sox would even the score in the fourth, as one of the newest members of the club Tommy Pham would single with one out and Devers followed with an RBI double to make it 1-1. Devers would connect with that game winner in the sixth with two outs, taking a 3-1 pitch over the wall down the right field line off Cristian Javier for his 23rd homerun of the season. Austin Davis came out of the Boston bullpen in the eighth inning and ran into some trouble, as Yordan Alvarez greeted him with a double and Alex Bregman followed with a walk. Davis would strikeout Kyle Tucker, and Tanner Houck then entered the game and retired Aledmys Diaz and Jeremy Peña to get out of the jam. Houck worked a perfect ninth to pick up his eighth save. The Sox are now 4-1 against the Astros this season.
Crawford (3-3) earned the win on the hill allowing one run on seven hits with one walk and six strikeouts in 6.0 innings. Hirokazu Sawamura and Davis both also got holds out of the pen. Devers was the only Sox player with multiple hits with two and had both RBI. Javier (6-7) took the loss for Houston giving up two runs on four hits in 6.0 innings. Altuve, Gurriel, and Peña had two hits a piece. Boston (53-52) will go for a three game sweep on Wednesday afternoon at 2:10, sending Rich Hill (4-4, 4.20 ERA) to the mound to be opposed by Jose Urquidy (9-4, 3.86) for the Astros. The Red Sox are currently two games out of the third and final American League Wildcard Playoff spot.
