UNDATED (AP) – The Houston Astros and Atlanta Braves are both one victory away from meeting in the World Series. Yordan Alvarez had three hits and three RBIs as the Astros hammered the Red Sox, 9-1 in Game 5 of the AL Championship Series. Alvarez opened the scoring with a second-inning blast and added a two-run double that ignited Houston’s five-run sixth. Framber Valdez was superb over eight innings, limiting the Bosox to a run and three hits while striking out five. Valdez blanked the Red Sox until Rafael Devers homered in the seventh. He also became the first pitcher of the postseason to work eight innings. Yuli Gurriel also had three ribbies for the Astros. Chris Sale absorbed the loss, allowing four runs and three hits with seven strikeouts over 5 1/3 innings. Two of the runs were unearned, thanks to an error by first baseman Kyle Schwarber in the sixth. The Astros can advance to the World Series on Friday in Houston.
The Braves are up three games to one in their NL Championship Series after throttling the Dodgers, 9-2 in Los Angeles. Eddie Rosario homered twice in his second four-hit game of the series. Adam Duvall and Freddie Freeman also went deep for Atlanta, which bounced right back from blowing a late lead in an agonizing loss Tuesday. The Braves tagged Julio Urias for three home runs over the first three innings. Urias was reached for five runs and eight hits in five innings. He was baseball’s only 20-game winner this season. The Dodgers finally broke through on AJ Pollock’s two-run single in the fifth, but that was one of just four hits allowed by six Atlanta hurlers on what became a bullpen game. The Braves can finish up the series on Thursday in LA.