The League Championship Series got a lot more interesting on Tuesday, setting up a pivotal slate of games on Wednesday.
Tuesday night in Game 4, the Houston Astros broke out for a seven-run ninth inning to tie the ALCS vs. the Boston Red Sox at 2-2.
That offensive firepower continued in Game 5 for the Astros, who got an early home run from Yordan Alvarez on the way to a dominant 9-1 win. Houston now leads the best-of-seven ALCS 3-2.
In the NLCS, the Dodgers — who staged a dramatic comeback to win Game 3 — are looking to even the series against the Braves at Dodger Stadium.
The Braves have taken an early lead thanks to back-to-back home runs in the second inning.
Here are the highlights from Wednesday:
Atlanta Braves at Los Angeles Dodgers (Atlanta leads 2-1)
Double trouble
The Braves didn’t let a disappointing end to Game 3 slow them down to start Game 4.
In the second inning, Eddie Rosario and Adam Duvall both hit solo home runs to give them an early 2-0 lead.
Third time’s a charm
The Braves added another home run to their tally in the third inning, this time from Freddie Freeman, to take 3-0 lead.
Houston Astros 9, Boston Red Sox 1 (Houston leads 3-2)
A monster shot
The Astros caught fire late in their Game 4 victory and that carried over into Game 5, with Alvarez hitting a solo home run over the green monster off Chris Sale to give the Astros an early lead.
Pitching duel
Despite giving up a home run, Sale was masterful through his first five innings of work, allowing just two hits and one run.
On the other side, Framber Valdez was close to perfect through five innings, allowing just one hit and zero runs.
Astronomical inning
The Astros were able to put a rest to the pitching dominance of Sale in the top of the sixth inning, chasing the ace from the game while scoring five runs in the inning.
The scoring started with Alvarez again, who recorded a two-run double.
That was followed by a two-out, RBI-single from Yuli Gurriel and a two-run single from Jose Siri to give the Astros a 6-0 lead.
Splitting the difference
The Astros added one more run in the seventh inning thanks to a Michael Brantley RBI, and the Red Sox finally got on the board in the bottom of the inning with a Rafael Devers solo home run.
The lead for the Astros was 7-1 entering the eighth inning.
The Astros would go on to add two more runs for insurance in the top of the ninth inning on their way to a 9-1 win.
Valdez was magical in the win, pitching eight innings and allowing just three hits and one run.
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