Houston looks to clinch pennant with victory over Boston

Boston Red Sox (92-70, second in the AL East) vs. Houston Astros (95-67, first in the AL West)

Houston; Friday, 8:08 p.m. EDT

PITCHING PROBABLES: Red Sox: Nathan Eovaldi (2-1, 3.70 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, 195 strikeouts this postseason) Astros: Luis Garcia (0-1, 3.25 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, 167 strikeouts this postseason)

LINE: Astros -111, Red Sox -108; over/under is 8 1/2 runs

ALCS: Houston leads the series 3-2

BOTTOM LINE: Houston will look to clinch a series win with a victory over Boston in Game 6 of the ALCS.

The Astros were 51-30 in home games in 2021. Houston has a team on-base percentage of .354 this postseason, Yordan Alvarez leads them with an OBP of .487, including four extra base hits and eight RBIs.

The Red Sox were 43-38 on the road in 2021. Boston has hit 22 home runs this postseason, Rafael Devers has accounted for five of them en route to posting a slugging percentage of .700.

The Astros won the last meeting 9-1. Framber Valdez notched his first victory this postseason and Yordan Alvarez went 3-for-5 with a double, a home run and three RBIs for Houston. Chris Sale registered his first loss of the postseason for Boston.

TOP PERFORMERS: Alvarez leads the Astros with 104 RBIs and is batting .277.

Rafael Devers leads the Red Sox with 166 hits and has 115 RBIs.

DURING THE PLAYOFFS: Astros: .279 batting average, 5.01 ERA, outscored opponents by 16 runs

Red Sox: .285 batting average, 4.60 ERA, outscored opponents by seven runs

INJURIES: Astros: Justin Verlander: (elbow), Andre Scrubb: (shoulder), Rafael Montero: (shoulder), Tyler Ivey: (undisclosed), Luis Garcia: (knee), Kent Emanuel: (elbow), Pedro Baez: (shoulder), Jake Meyers: (shoulder), Freudis Nova: (knee), Taylor Jones: (covid-19).

Red Sox: None listed.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.