Astros optimistic and not scared to play at Fenway

Dusty Baker prefers to focus on all the positives rather than the negatives before his Houston Astros travel to Boston on Sunday for Game 3 of the American League Championship Series against the Red Sox.

The Astros’ manager acknowledged that being down eight runs before even getting two outs in the second inning and with the starting pitcher injured before reaching the third inning is never going to be the start of a game anyone imagined, let alone in a World Series pregame scenario.

But that there’s too much in his Astros to hone the foundation that they can compete in every aspect against the Red Sox.

“I think we’re pretty evenly matched,” Baker reckoned. “That’s why we’re here. That’s why we’re both teams in the Final Four. These are two teams that aren’t going to quit. They took the lead earlier today. But we’re still competing and this is far from over.”

Among the optimism is the way the Astros closed out the game, despite the deficit and always battling from behind, such as the two homers they connected on in the last inning: the first by Yuli Gurriel and the second by Jason Castro.

“We have to go to Boston and press our foot forward and try to do everything we can to win games there,” said Gurriel, who produced three runs on Saturday. “We know we’re in a little bit of a complicated period because of the injuries we’ve suffered on the pitching staff, but we have to do our job.”

“We have to go out there and try to put up as many runs as we can,” he added. “And this team can hit under any circumstances.”

The Astros were already down 9-0 in the fourth inning and still managed to keep hitting without putting their heads down anyway. They pounded out eight hits, an amount that might have been enough against most teams, including the Red Sox, except when the deficit was so large.

“They never showed mental weakness,” noted Houston relief pitcher Jake Odorizzi. “The guys kept their heads up, motivated and competing at all times. That’s the way this team is. It’s been through everything and endured everything on and off the field.”

Odorizzi was the first of four relievers who had to get 24 outs, as starter Luis García barely completed one inning before leaving with a knee injury. It is unknown if he will be able to continue in the series.

Only Odorizzi allowed runs; four on seven hits in the four innings he relieved. Blake Taylor, Yimi Garcia and Ryne Stanek combined to pitch two-hit ball in the final four innings.

But after they had to use seven relievers in the series opener, when starter Framber Valdez barely got through two and two-thirds innings, and starter Lance McCullers Jr. is out with a forearm injury for at least the rest of the Championship Series, the Astros will have to start getting creative.

They’ll open Game 3 on Monday with Jose Urquidy, who hasn’t pitched all postseason. And from him they will have to start figuring out their best combinations for Game 4 and Game 5.

“We had tried to avoid using Odorizzi the first couple of games,” Baker explained. “That’s why we used everybody in Game 1. We had planned for him to be the Game 4 starter. But every time we have a plan, something happens…”.

“We’re going to find ways to get through it,” he guaranteed. “For now, we have a formidable group of guys that we’re going to depend on and trust on Monday, Urquidy. And that’s where we’re going to go from.”