AL wild-card roundup: Cody Bellinger helps Yankees sweep Red Sox; White Sox eliminate Astros
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Max Fried dominated Boston in the playoffs for the second straight year, Cody Bellinger and Luis García Jr. homered, and the New York Yankees romped over the Red Sox 9-2 Wednesday night at New York for a two-game AL wild-card series sweep.
Clinging to a 2-1 lead after Willson Contreras homered to end Boston’s 26-inning postseason scoreless streak, the Yankees broke the game open with a six-run sixth after Spencer Jones reached on a wild pitch while striking out leading off — with the help of a video review.
García, acquired at the trade deadline, had three hits in his first postseason start, and Bellinger had four RBIs that included a three-run homer capping the sixth-inning burst that put New York ahead 8-1.
New York will face AL East champion Tampa Bay in an AL Division Series starting Saturday.
Chicago 7, at Houston 3—The Chicago White Sox used a big first inning and a three-run homer from Chase Meidroth to propel them to a 7-3 win over the Houston Astros on Wednesday to sweep their AL Wild Card Series.
It’s the first time Chicago has won a playoff series since beating Houston in the World Series in 2005. Under the direction of second-year skipper Will Venable and with a letter of support from Pope Leo XIV, the White Sox advanced to face AL Central champion Cleveland in the AL Division Series beginning Saturday in Cleveland.
The White Sox, who lost 100 games in each of the last three seasons, are the only team in major league history to follow consecutive 100-loss seasons with a playoff berth.
The AL West-winning Astros went 81-81 to become the first team to reach the postseason without a winning record. Their recent playoff woes in Houston continued Wednesday as they dropped their ninth straight home playoff game in a ninth trip to the postseason in the last 10 years.
Chicago pounced on the Astros for four runs in the first inning a day after scoring three in the first two innings of a 6-3 win. Houston ace Hunter Brown was lifted after getting just two outs and wasn’t helped by a sloppy defense which committed two first-inning errors.
