HOUSTON - It's not the ending that the Astros wanted after they lost to the Red Sox 4-1 on Thursday night in Game 5 of ALCS. The win propelled Boston to the World Series after winning the championships series 4-1.
The Red Sox won four straight games including all three games at Minute Maid park to advance to their first World Series since winning it all in 2013.
The Astros were coming off their first World Series Championship in the franchise's history and set a record for wins by winning 103 during the regular season. The Red Sox showed why they won 108 games under first year manager Alex Cora, who had been the Astros' hitting coach in 2017.
Astros manager A.J. Hinch congratulated the accomplishment of Cora and the Red Sox before saying, "It sucks. This is a press conference you never really prepare for. I don't know the right words,the right tone, the right content. I mean, it's an extremely disappointed clubhouse because we want to keep playing.We feel like we set the bar exactly where it should be around here, which -- the World Series is the only thing that was going to make this team feel like we accomplished much. I think over time the things will come out -- franchise record wins and division championship and things that just aren't common.It's, like, it's not normal. It's not easy. But it's a pretty hollow feeling when the season abruptly ends the way that it does and the way that it did."
After the win, Red Sox manager Cora said, "It's special in every aspect. Not only as a manager, but as an individual. Just to manage this team, everybody knows the history of the city and history has positive sides and negative sides. And for me, as a minority, to be a manager in Boston, it hasn't been a challenge. People have been great with us, but obviously people talk about that. And to be able to lead this team, it's amazing. It's a great group -- very talented, very humble, very hungry.They were very -- for two years very disappointed the Indians and the Astros and they didn't play well in October. And now we won, what, seven games already in October. We've still got four more to go."
The Red Sox will face the winner of the NLCS where the Los Angeles Dodgers hold a 3-2 lead over the Milwaukee Brewers with Game 6 being played in Milwaukee's Miller Park on Friday night.