Astros at Red Sox
It took a little longer than planned, but the Boston Red Sox clinched the American League East with one day to spare in the regular season. The Houston Astros, who assured themselves of the No. 2 seed in the AL playoffs with a loss to the Red Sox on Saturday, will visit Boston in Sunday's regular-season finale before the two teams meet again next week in the AL Division Series.
The Red Sox, who will visit Houston for Game 1 of the best-of-five ALDS on Thursday, dropped the first two games of the series and four of five before pulling off the 6-3 victory on Saturday. The win allows them to skip ace Chris Sale, and both teams will likely treat Sunday's finale like spring training. "This was the most probable outcome just the way the weekend was lining up. It doesn't surprise me," Astros manager A.J. Hinch told reporters. "The first three games here were played with a little concern about that being a potential matchup. We were just playing, trying to win. Obviously, I don't know how (Sunday) is going to go for either team. It's fun. This is a good team across the way, we're a good team, we're both division champions. We'll obviously see a lot of each other over the next 10 days." Houston will give Collin McHugh one last chance to earn a spot in the postseason rotation while Boston gives Sale a rest and instead sends Hector Velazquez to the mound.
TV: 3:05 p.m. ET, AT&T SportsNet-Southwest (Houston), NESN (Boston)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Astros RH Collin McHugh (4-2, 3.45 ERA) vs. Red Sox RH Hector Velazquez (3-1, 3.48)
McHugh is making his third straight regular turn in the rotation and looking for his third win in as many starts. The 30-year-old only completed five innings in each of his last two starts but allowed a total of three runs while striking out 11. McHugh saw Boston twice in 2016 and went 0-1 while allowing a total of nine runs and 20 hits in 10 innings.
Velazquez tossed a scoreless inning of relief in Thursday's series opener and is making his first start since June 19 at Kansas City, when he allowed two runs and five hits in 5 1/3 innings. The rookie allowed one hit in three scoreless innings over three relief appearances this month. Velazquez went 8-4 with a 2.21 ERA in 19 starts for Triple-A Pawtucket this season.
WALK-OFFS
1. Red Sox LF Andrew Benintendi recorded his 20th steal on Saturday to join Ellis Burks (1987) and Nomar Garciaparra (1997) as the only rookies in team history to record 20 steals and 20 homers.
2. Houston SS Carlos Correa is 13-for-20 with 10 RBIs in the last five games.
3. Boston 2B Dustin Pedroia (knee) was scratched Saturday and could sit again Sunday.