HOUSTON — Andrew Benintendi charged in hard and left his feet.
Make the catch, Boston wins.
If not … no telling.
On this night, though, even a ball the Red Sox couldn’t grab went their way.
Benintendi made a diving play in left field with the bases loaded for the final out, and Boston held off the Houston Astros 8-6 Wednesday to take a 3-1 lead in the AL Championship Series.
“I thought I could catch it and timed it up well,” Benintendi said. “At that point, it was either do or die.”
Boosted by a questionable fan interference call and another home run from Jackie Bradley Jr. in a gripping, back-and-forth game, the Red Sox moved within one victory of their first World Series trip since winning the 2013 title.
Craig Kimbrel earned a shaky six-out save, helped by a rocket throw from right fielder Mookie Betts and Benintendi’s daring grab of Alex Bregman’s sinking liner. Had the ball scooted past Benintendi, it easily could have scored three runs and won the game for Houston.
“Beni took a shot. Had a great jump. And he got it,” Boston manager Alex Cora said.
With that, the Red Sox improved to 4-0 on the road in these playoffs and inched closer to eliminating the defending World Series champions.
“This game was incredibly good on both sides — great at-bats, great plays,” Astros manager AJ Hinch said. “The difference in that game literally was a couple inches.”
Game 5 is Thursday night in Houston, where ace Justin Verlander will pitch for the Astros with their season on the line. David Price, who was warming up in the bullpen late in Game 4, will start for Boston on three days’ rest after Chris Sale was ruled out Wednesday while recovering from a stomach illness.
Bradley hit a go-ahead homer in the sixth inning, his latest huge swing for a Red Sox team that was knocked out of the postseason by Houston in the Division Series last year.
Boston has won three straight after a Game 1 loss, and this one came with some controversy.
Jose Altuve was denied a potential two-run homer in the first inning for Houston and called out after fans reaching for the ball interfered with Betts’ attempt at a leaping catch.
“Jose pays the biggest price because the trajectory of the ball looked like it was going to leave the ballpark,” Hinch said. “Changed that whole inning.”
Boston trailed by one with two outs in the sixth when Christian Vazquez doubled to deep right-center. Center fielder George Springer nearly made a leaping catch, but the ball glanced off his glove.
Bradley, who hit a grand slam in Game 3 and a three-run double in Game 2, put the Red Sox on top 6-5 with his soaring shot to right field on the next pitch from rookie Josh James.
“I’m very proud of him, what he’s done in the second part of the season and what he’s done tonight and in this series. It’s amazing,” Cora said.
