News for Jackie Bradley Jr. - 2013 Straight Arrow Rotisserie League

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Tue Oct 16 201822:01Osuna makes things worse for Astros in ALCS loss to Red Sox
HOUSTON (AP) — With his team down one run going into the eighth inning, Houston manager AJ Hinch went to closer Roberto Osuna in hopes of keeping it that way.Things only got worse for the Astros in Game 3 of the AL Championship Series.Osuna gave up a grand slam to Jackie Bradley Jr. after hitting consecutive pinch-hitters with two-strike pitches, and the Boston Red Sox won 8-2 on Tuesday to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series."It's a 3-2 ballgame until all hell broke loose in the eighth inning," Hinch said. "A couple of hit by pitches and a huge swing by Bradley and there's the game."In his first ALCS appearance for the Astros, Osuna came on with Houston trailing 3-2 and retired J.D. Martinez on a deep fly to start the eighth. Hinch treats one-run deficits like a tie game in the postseason, figuring his team still has a good chance to win."We're trying to win the game, trying to keep it at the one-run game with the really effective closer against the middle part of their order," Hinch said. "We get out of that 3-2, we've got plenty of outs left, and you never know what can happen."But after an infield hit and a fielder's choice grounder for the second out, Rafael Devers singled. Pinch-hitter Brock Holt was hit on the foot to load the bases before Mitch Moreland got plunked as well, forcing in a run.Bradley's slam to right field broke it open, giving Boston an 8-2 cushion."No margin for error," Hinch said. "It's really a matter of he didn't finish at-bats as well as he normally does, whether it's going to pitches or executing the pitch. Execution was a little bit of a problem at the end of at-bats. And he lost a lot of those at-bats at a huge time in the game."It was another postseason meltdown for a hard-throwing Astros closer, similar to Ken Giles last October. Giles was traded to Toronto in July as part of the deal that brought Osuna to the Astros.In Game 4 of the World Series last year, Giles came into a 1-1 tie in the ninth inning and was charged with three runs without getting an out in a loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers. It was the sixth time in seven postseason appearances that he gave up a run.Osuna made two scoreless appearances for the Astros in the AL Division Series against Cleveland, getting the save in Game 2 after pitching the final 1 1/3 innings.The Astros will likely need more of that if the defending World Series champions are going to get a chance to win it all again this season.In his 23 regular-season games with the Astros after being acquired, Osuna went 2-2 with 12 saves and a 1.99 ERA. He had 19 strikeouts and three walks.Canadian prosecutors last month dropped a domestic assault charge against Osuna, who agreed to stay away from the alleged victim for one year and continue counseling.Osuna was still with the Blue Jays in May when he was suspended without pay for 75 games for violating Major League Baseball's domestic violence policy."We have a very close-knit group in there and he's absorbed some of that love and affection and he'll get that tonight. He'll be ready to go tomorrow," Hinch said.___More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/tag/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports