The Houston Astros capped their first-ever series sweep at Fenway Park with a 7-4 win over the hosts Boston Red Sox on Wednesday.
Not once in the Astros’ 61-year history have they swept the Boston Red Sox at the historic Fenway Park until now.
Houston’s 7-4 win on Wednesday afternoon completed the franchise’s first-ever road sweep of the Sox, with the series serving as an acid test for both teams as August ends and the MLB playoff chase heats up.
Jeremy Pena hit a double and a triple, scored two runs, and drove in another to pace Houston, which scored three runs in both the second and third innings, added another in the fourth, and held on for its fifth consecutive victory.
Early and often. pic.twitter.com/MvKGQzxvc6
— Houston Astros (@astros) August 30, 2023
Boston has lost five of its last six games.
Astros, the reigning World Series champions, have won five consecutive games and scored at least six runs in each one, including a 17-run explosion in Detroit last Sunday and a 13-run outburst in the opening game of the Boston series.
The series sweep sets up a division race to remember as the calendar flips to September.
The Astros are now in a virtual tie with the Seattle Mariners for first place in the American League West for now, The Mariners’ .571 winning percentage has them just ahead of Houston (.570 percentage).
The Texas Rangers remain firmly in the picture and to their .568 winning percentage, and it looks like the race out west will go down to the wire in September.
The Red Sox’s slogan during their last World Series championship run in 2018 was “do damage.”
This sweep at home, however, does damage of a far different kind.
