HOUSTON -- They came. They saw. They split.
Of course, it would have been nice for the Red Sox to win each of the first two games of their American League Championship Series with the Houston Astros. For a time Friday night, that seemed viable, until the bullpen not only bent but broke, too.
But the Red Sox' 9-5 thumping of the Astros in Game 2 Saturday was really all they needed. The Red Sox return to Boston having effectively stolen home-field advantage back from the Astros. Games 3-4-5 will be played Monday through Wednesday at Fenway, and if the Red Sox can maintain the roll they're on, they could capture the pennant without having to return to Minute Maid Park.
Could. Unlikely, but possible.
Saturday's win was nailed down early. J.D. Martinez swatted an opposite-field line drive grand slam in the top of the first. The following inning, Rafael Devers yanked a pitch just inside the right-field foul pole for his own grand slam.
Two swings of the bat in the first two innings -- marking the first postseason game in history to feature two grand slams -- and the Red Sox had this one firmly in their grasp.
The rest was just window dressing.
Starter Nathan Eovaldi encountered one small glitch in the fourth when, with two outs and ahead of Yordan Alvarez, he issued a walk. Three more hits in succession followed and the Astros had themselves three runs. The mini-uprising briefly provided hope for the sell-out crowd at Minute Maid, but it was just a temporary tease. Eovaldi fanned Chas McCormick to strand a runner, end the inning, and the Astros hardly threatened again.
This was the same strategy that the Sox took in the Division Series, when they absorbed a 5-0 loss in Game 1, coughed up a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first and ... climbed back with 14 runs to even the series on the road before finishing off the Rays back in Boston.
(Apparently there's something about the second game of the series that energizes the Sox' bats. In a couple of Game 2 contests, they've totaled 23 runs on 21 hits.)
The ability to flush a disappointing result without experiencing a next-day hangover has been something of a specialty of this Red Sox team. Blow a lead and lose a game? No problem. There's always tomorrow.
However, it's one thing to move on from a couple of losses in May or August against Detroit or Kansas City. It's something else altogether when you have to overcome a loss in October. The stakes are far bigger and the bounce-back is that more critical. You can lose a series during the season and the fallout minimal. Meanwhile, a three-game skid in the playoffs can bring about offseason tee times in a heartbeat.
And here's where the manager comes into play.
Whether it's his calm demeanor or the confidence he exudes, the players take their cue from Cora. He doesn't panic, so neither do they. He doesn't look back and they don't either. A loss is a loss, and there's little to be gained from ruminating. The focus, always, is on the next one.
Whatever Cora preaches, the players are buying. How do we know this? Because over the course of 21 postseason games that Cora has managed dating back to his managerial playoff debut, the Red Sox have never lost two games in a row. Ever.
If anything, a setback seems to motivate them.
In 2018, when the Yankees got a split at Fenway, the Red Sox went to the Bronx and won the next two. When the Astros grabbed the ALCS opener, at Fenway, the Red Sox rolled then with four straight, the last three here at Minute Maid. The one win the Dodgers managed in the World Series was a bit of a fluke, and the Red Sox treated it as such by responding with two in a row to win the championship.
This October has been more of the same. Twice, the Sox have lost Game 1, and both times, they responded the next day -- not only with a win, but an emphatic win.
"We were locked in today,'' said Cora. "There was no way today, the way they came to the ballpark, the way they talked in the meeting, the way they went about their business, that (focus was going to be an issue) Obviously, Friday was disappointing. But at the same time, understanding what we wanted to do - which was go home and have three guaranteed games at Fenway, it really didn't matter.''
The Sox were all business, and their 8-0 lead by the top of the second demonstrated that.
Importantly, the Sox are in good shape with their pitching, while the Astros are decidedly not. Eduardo Rodriguez and Nick Pivetta are lined up for Games 3 and 4 without having tossed a pitch here. Meanwhile, the Astros, already without their best starter (Lance McCullers Jr.), may now be without another. Luis Garcia left in the second with a knee injury, and to fill the rest of the way, Jake Odorizzi, who would have started either Monday or Tuesday, instead sucked up four innings to save others. Advantage: Red Sox.
It was left for Cora to do the math.
"It's a best-of-five,'' said the manager, "and we play three games at home. It should be fun.''
And, if recent history is a guide, shouldn't include any losing streaks.