Major League Baseball

MLB playoffs top plays: Astros, Braves both move one win away from World Series

Updated Oct. 21, 2021 12:02 a.m. ET

The Houston Astros and Atlanta Braves both moved one win away from a matchup in the World Series with dominant victories on Wednesday night.

That Astros rode an early home run from Yordan Alvarez to a dominant 9-1 win over the Boston Red Sox and now lead the best-of-seven ALCS 3-2.

In the NLCS, the Dodgers — who staged a dramatic comeback to win Game 3 — came out flat against the Braves in Game 4 at Dodger Stadium. The Braves used back-to-back home runs in the second inning to spark them early and never looked back on their way to a 9-2 win to take a 3-1 lead in the series.

Here are the highlights from Wednesday:

Atlanta Braves 9, Los Angeles Dodgers 2 (Atlanta leads series 3-1)

Double trouble

The Braves didn't let a disappointing end to Game 3 slow them down to start Game 4.

In the second inning, Eddie Rosario and Adam Duvall both hit solo home runs to give them an early 2-0 lead.

Third time's a charm

The Braves added another home run to their tally in the third inning, this time from Freddie Freeman.

Joc Pederson added an RBI in the inning as well to give the Braves a 4-0 lead.

Clawing back

The Dodgers placed two runners in scoring position with two outs in the bottom of the fifth inning, and A.J. Pollock made sure they made it home with a single to cut the Braves lead to 5-2.

For good measure

The Braves added more runs in the top of the ninth for extra insurance, delivering the knockout blow to the Dodgers.

It started with a Freeman RBI-double and was punctuated with a three-run home run from Rosario, his second of the night.

For the night, Rosario hit two home runs, a triple and a double to serve as the catalyst to the Braves moving one win away from the World Series.

Houston Astros 9, Boston Red Sox 1 (Houston leads 3-2)

A monster shot

The Astros caught fire late in their Game 4 victory and that carried over into Game 5, with Alvarez hitting a solo home run over the green monster off Chris Sale to give the Astros an early lead.

Pitching duel

Despite giving up a home run, Sale was masterful through his first five innings of work, allowing just two hits and one run.

On the other side, Framber Valdez was close to perfect through five innings, allowing just one hit and zero runs.

Astronomical inning

The Astros were able to put a rest to the pitching dominance of Sale in the top of the sixth inning, chasing the ace from the game while scoring five runs in the inning.

The scoring started with Alvarez again, who recorded a two-run double.

That was followed by a two-out, RBI-single from Yuli Gurriel and a two-run single from Jose Siri to give the Astros a 6-0 lead.

Splitting the difference

The Astros added one more run in the seventh inning thanks to a Michael Brantley RBI, and the Red Sox finally got on the board in the bottom of the inning with a Rafael Devers solo home run.

The lead for the Astros was 7-1 entering the eighth inning.

The Astros would go on to add two more runs for insurance in the top of the ninth inning on their way to a 9-1 win.

Valdez was magical in the win, pitching eight innings and allowing just three hits and one run.