HOUSTON — Jackie Bradley Jr.'s eighth-inning grand slam on Tuesday night not only cemented the Red Sox' 8-2 victory in Game 3 of the American League Championship Series over the Houston Astros, it kicked some fairly significant postseason karma when it comes to the Olde Towne Team.
Bradley's slam was the fifth by a Red Sox player in an ALCS. Each of the previous four times it happened, the Red Sox went on to win their last three World Series titles:
2004: Johnny Damon, Game 7;
2007: J.D. Drew, Game 6;
2013: Twice — David Ortiz, Game 2; Shane Victorino, Game 6.
With that significant note out of the way ... What a difference three and a half months can make if you're Bradley, Steve Pearce and the Red Sox.
Back on June 27, Bradley was still scuffling at the plate. He started the day batting .199, but he went 1 for 4 to get to .200. Bradley would dip to .198 about 10 days later — the final time he'd be below the Mendoza Line for the rest of the season.
Steve Pearce was playing his final game in a Blue Jays uniform on June 27 — here at Minute Maid Park against these same Astros. The next day he was traded to the Red Sox.
Basically, back on that early day of summer, no one could have forecast a night like Tuesday, when both had the longest and loudest hits — Pearce had a tiebreaking, 456-foot bomb down the left-field line in the fifth inning — to help propel Boston to a crucial Game 3.
What a long, strange trip it's been for Pearce and Bradley.
"It means everything," said Pearce, who played for all three AL East teams before finally landing with the Red Sox, his favorite team growing up. "These guys made it a lot easier for me when I came in here. Being in the AL East for such a long time, I played against these guys for so long ... I knew them. I just had to get a chance to learn their personality. And these guys have been great to me from day one and they make it enjoyable for me to show up at the park every day."
Bradley went through a brutal first half of the season, when his average as still as low as .178 on June 23rd. But Alex Cora never wavered in his belief in Bradley, and that faith was rewarded in a .304 average in Bradley's final 41 games. Bradley's now tied with J.D. Martinez with seven postseason RBI.
"It's all him," said Cora. "It's a credit to him, because at this level, when you're hitting .180 after two months or I think it was three months, it is hard. And he kept showing up. He kept working. He kept working his craft. Now you see the results."
Bradley's home run came on a 94-mph fastball up in the zone. Of the previous 12 pitches Bradley saw before the home run, only one was in the upper half of the strike zone. A first-pitch strike he took in the seventh off Ryan Pressly. Bradley wasn't about to let another pitch he could elevate go by.
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"It was huge," said Bradley, who had a bases-loaded hit for the second straight game (three-run double in Game 2). "We're playing a really good team in Houston. Runs are at a premium. We never feel like enough runs is going to be enough. So it was very, very special for us."
Pearce had to chime in: "His teammates loved it. I'll tell you that."
The first baseman nearly provided some fireworks earlier in the game. In the third inning with runnings on first and second, Pearce skyed a ball to left field that caused Tony Kemp to keep backing up. Finally, up against the wall, Kemp leaped and caught the ball before it hit the fence (the Red Sox challenged thinking it might have hit the wall first, but there were no conclusive replays and the out stood).
With the score tied 2-2, Pearce left no doubt against reliever Joe Smith, depositing an 88-mph fastball off the facade.
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"First pitch, fastball. I saw it really well. And I was hoping I got another one and I did. I didn't miss it," said Pearce. "The first one that I hit off the wall or not off the wall but the one that Kemp made a great play off of it, I missed that one. And thankfully I didn't miss the second one.
"I knew it was going to leave the yard, I was hoping it would stay fair. I hit it really well."
In the larger context, that Pearce and Bradley provided such timely offense in the past two games — Pearce had a single, Bradley a three-run double in the Game 2 win — has been vital with their top four hitters being hit and miss.
"That's how it is, man," J.D. Martinez said. "We've talked about this. Everybody always wants to concentrate on the first four or five guys in the lineup, but if you look through (postseason) history, it always comes down to guys nobody expects to step up, the guys that everyone kind of looks past. When those guys come up big, it's a different game. It really is. You put pitchers in a tough spot because now they've got to worry about everybody.
"Steve and Jackie, they've been pretty much carrying us these last two games, really."