Young stars push Astros onward

García and Álvarez, both 24, lead Houston to third World Series in five years

HOUSTON—Two of the youngest Houston Astros stars helped one of baseball’s oldest managers get another shot at a most elusive title.

Rookie Luis García showed the poise of an October ace, MVP Yordan Álvarez did more damage at the plate and the Astros earned yet another trip to the World Series, beating the Boston Red Sox 5-0 in Game 6 of the AL Championship Series late Friday night.

García and Álvarez, both 24 and ascending, and 72-year-old manager Dusty Baker will open the World Series on Tuesday night.

“There’s four more wins on the board out there,” Baker said. “There’s four more wins you’ve got to get.”

The Astros advanced to the World Series for the third time in five seasons. They won the championship in 2017, a crown tainted by the team’s sign-stealing scandal, before losing to the Washington Nationals in seven games in 2019.

García pitched no-hit ball into the sixth inning, leaving to a huge ovation with two outs after a triple by Kiké Hernández. It was an impressive bounceback performance for García, who started Game 2 and gave up a grand slam in the first inning before leaving with no outs in the second because of discomfort in his right knee.

“I know I’m a rookie but I know what I can do and that’s what I did tonight,” García said.

Álvarez continued his scorching streak, a year after watching at home after surgery to both knees as the Astros came one game shy of reaching the World Series. The slugging designated hitter went 4 for 4, including a triple and two doubles. He led a Game 5 win with three hits and three RBIs.

Álvarez hit an ALCS-record .522 (12 for 23) with one homer, three doubles, the triple and six RBIs in Houston’s six-game victory. He got nine hits in his last 13 at-bats.

It will be Baker’s second trip to the Fall Classic as a manager and first since leading the San Francisco Giants to the NL pennant in 2002. As a player, he went three times with the Dodgers, winning it all in 1981.

“Hey, I’m going back to the World Series!” Baker told a cheering crowd at Minute Maid Park.

For Houston, it was a team victory featuring all facets of the game it used in taking the AL West title and beating the Chicago White Sox in the AL Division Series. The Astros won the clincher, too, without a hit from stars José Altuve and Carlos Correa — Alex Bregman got two hits and scored a run.

“We have a little bit of everything,” Altuve said.

Kyle Tucker broke it open with a three-run homer with two out in the eighth. Television cameras flashed to Houston’s Hall of Fame duo of Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell, who stood together and cheered as Tucker rounded the bases to the roars of the crowd of 42,718.

Asked to describe these Astros, Biggio, who led the team to its first World Series said simply: “They’re just good.”

Ryan Pressly closed it out in the ninth. The Red Sox, who looked so formidable at the plate at the start of the season, were held to two hits in their final game.

“I think we’re definitely disappointed right now,” Red Sox starter Nathan Eovaldi said. “We obviously wanted to win this game and win the series and go on the to World Series. No one expected us to be here. We proved a lot of people wrong.”

Bregman singled with two out in the first before a double by Álvarez put the Astros up 1-0. Hernández was in position to make the catch, but it hit off his arm below his glove and dropped in for the hit.

Consecutive romps by Boston and its bashers made it appear that the Red Sox were in complete control of the series after Game 3, but as the long fly by Álvarez proved, they didn’t have a firm grip on things.

The Astros, buoyed by their young pitchers and rediscovered offence, won the next two games by a combined 18-3 to return home a win away from a World Series.

“It’s a relentless team,” Correa said. “We stick together. We’re a family. We fight back and we never give up.”

Framber Valdez pitched the Astros to a Game 5 win at Fenway Park, then their rising stars, García and Álvarez, did the rest.