News » C Omar Narvaez left the game in the third inning

BOSTON (AP) — Chris Sale waited eight years to make his first postseason start and then another 365 days for a chance to put that memory behind him.The Red Sox left-hander will start Game 1 of the AL Division Series against the New York Yankees on Friday night http://www.astrosfanproshop.com/authentic-jake-marisnick-jersey , one year after he was bombarded by the championship-bound Houston Astros in his playoff debut.He’s thought about it. He’s learned from it.And he wants to make sure he doesn’t make the same mistakes again.“Last year, obviously, I got my feet wet. Didn’t do too well. But sometimes you learn from the bad more than the good,” Sale said Thursday, a day before the AL East rivals open their best-of-five series.“It happened. I’m not going to run away from it. I don’t think that’s the right thing to do,” he said. “I’m not going to hide from it. You can Google it now, tomorrow and 100 years, and it’s going to be there. I own it. I accept it. And like I said, I’m going to be better. I’m going to go do everything I can to be better. That’s all I can do.”A seven-time All-Star who was the ace of the White Sox staff before coming to the Red Sox in 2017, Sale had never pitched for a playoff team before starting the opener of Boston’s series against Houston. He gave up seven runs in five innings; he pitched well in an emergency relief appearance in Game 4 but couldn’t keep the Astros from advancing.On Friday night, Sale will face Yankees lefty J.A. Happ in the first-ever meeting of the teams in the ALDS. They have not met at all in the postseason since Boston’s epic comeback in the 2004 AL Championship Series before the Red Sox went on to win the World Series and their first title in 86 years.“This is everything we show up for,” Sale said. “We don’t play the game for anything else. Personal stats, wins in the regular season are obviously what get us here. And winning games and winning the division and having the record and all that. We appreciate it, don’t get me wrong. We worked hard for that. We grinded for that, and we earned it.“But now is the crunch time,” he said, punctuating his comments by pounding his finger on the table in front of him. “We know what’s ahead of us. And we know what we have to do.”And what they have to do now is get past their longtime nemesis Michael Saunders Jersey , a 100-win team that is coming off of a 7-2 victory over the Oakland Athletics in the AL wild-card game. The Red Sox watched that game on TV as a team.“It was fun. It was very relaxing,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “Hopefully we can do it a few more times in October, get together.”After partying into the night and then riding what manager Aaron Boone called “a slow-moving train” to Boston, the Yankees decided not to work out at Fenway Park on Thursday.Boone, whose extra-inning homer in Game 7 of the ALCS in 2003 eliminated Boston, said what he remembered from that series was that neither team could count on any momentum from one game to the next.“I kind of throw that out the window,” he said. “In those years, both teams were so good. And one team would kill the other team one day, and you would think, ‘here we go.’ And the next day the other team would answer back.”Happ went 7-0 for the Yankees after coming to New York before the trade deadline. Masahiro Tanaka will pitch Game 2 of the series against David Price. Boone added reliever Stephen Tarpley and lefty CC Sabathia to the roster in place of infielder Tyler Wade and catcher Kyle Higashioka.Cora has said that 2016 Cy Young winner Rick Porcello will pitch Game 3, with Nathan Eovaldi scheduled to go in Game 4.Sale is still recovering from left shoulder inflammation that landed him on the disabled list twice in the second half of the season and limited him to 12 innings from July 11 until Sept. 11. He made four starts down the stretch as he tried to build up arm strength, but in his previous outing last Wednesday his fastball was the slowest he’s had all year.Sale adjusted his preparation because of rain Tuesday, pushing back some of his work to Wednesday so he could pitch off a regular mound instead of in the batting cage. Manager Alex Cora said Sale is “a full go,” and the problems with his velocity were related to his mechanics and not his health or arm strength.Either way, Sale insisted, “if I take the mound, I expect to win.”“Sometimes you go out there and you have your best http://www.royalsfanproshop.com/authentic-ryan-goins-jersey , sometimes you don’t,” he said. “You have to find a way with whatever you have on any given day, and roll with it.” MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — If Joe Mauer is ready to retire, he’s going out on a high note.Mauer reached base three times and Kyle Gibson capped a season of improvement with six quality innings in the Minnesota Twins‘ 8-3 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Saturday night.A free agent after the season, Mauer has said he’ll contemplate retirement after 15 years in Minnesota. But the former MVP and seven-time All-Star is showing he can still swing the bat with a strong September.He had two hits and scored twice Saturday. Mauer, who entered the day with a major league-leading .410 average with runners in scoring position, drove in a run with a single as part of a six-run second inning. He is hitting .365 with eight RBIs in his last 16 games.“It doesn’t surprise me,” Twins manager Paul Molitor said. “We’re all pulling for him to have a good finish to this year. He’s putting together a nice homestand. I think he’s really relishing just the response and the fans. You soak it in, even if you’re contemplating what lies ahead, just to kind of pause and take pictures of each day you’re playing the game.”Jorge Polanco added three hits and Jake Cave drove in three runs for Minnesota, which tied a season high with its fifth straight win.Gibson (10-13) allowed one run on three hits and three walks to lower his ERA to 3.62. He had a 5.07 ERA each of the past two seasons, but continued the growth he showed at the end of last season after returning from the minors.“Overall, it was just the mentality I was able to keep,” Gibson said. “Kind of the beauty of having your priorities straight and having a good, confident mentality is one start, whether it’s good or bad, isn’t going to take you too high or too low.”Chicago starter Carlos Rodon (6-8) was knocked out six batters into the second inning without retiring an out. He surrendered eight runs on six hits and four walks in his 21st start of the season after returning from shoulder surgery.“You know Wily Peralta Jersey , I had some clarity coming back this year and pitching,” Rodon said. “Ate some innings and had some fun even though this last month hasn’t gone the way I’d like, but it was good. It was good to be back.”Rodon gave up 14 runs in 3 1/3 innings in his final two starts.“It wasn’t the way I’m sure he wanted it to finish and we didn’t either, but he’s given us a nice recovered season,” White Sox manager Rick Renteria said. “He’s made progress. He’s going to go into the end here healthy and being able to concentrate on getting himself ready for the coming season.”Chicago lost for the 10th time in 13 games and is 62-99. A loss Sunday would be the White Sox’s first 100-loss season since losing 106 games in 1970.AN UNWANTED RECORDChicago struck out nine times to set a major league record for a team in a season. White Sox batters have struck out 1,579 times, breaking the mark of 1,571 set by the Milwaukee Brewers last season.Second baseman Yoan Moncado struck out for the 216th time, the highest total in the majors this season and the fourth-most in a single season in history.Moncado is three strikeouts behind Chris Davis, who had 219 in 2016. The record is held by Mark Reynolds, who struck out 223 times in 2009.TRAINER’S ROOMWhite Sox: C Omar Narvaez left the game in the third inning with low back stiffness. He was replaced by Kevan Smith. . SS Tim Anderson left the game in the fourth inning. Renteria said he’s been dealing with knee soreness and the cold weather caused the knee to stiffen. Renteria said he’ll see how Anderson feels before Sunday’s game to know whether he’ll play in the finale. Jose Rondon took Anderson’s place and twisted his ankle on a play at first base in the ninth but stayed in the game.Twins: Mitch Garver was out of the lineup a day after getting four hits and six RBIs because Molitor wanted to go with Tyler Austin and Mauer at first base and designated hitter, respectively. Garver recently returned from a concussion and won’t be used as a catcher again this season.UP NEXTMinnesota will end the season with rookie right-hander Zack Littell (0-2, 6.61 ERA) starting Sunday, with Chicago going with right-hander Dylan Covey (5-13, 5.06). It will be Littell’s eighth major league appearance and second start. His previous start was against the White Sox in his debut on June 5 when he gave up six runs in three innings. Covey is 0-6 with a 6.08 ERA over his last eight starts but has 12 scoreless innings over his past two starts.