RED SOX: Mookie Betts breaks out

Right-fielder ends postseason funk with two doubles, two runs scored and an RBI in ALCS Game 2 win.

BOSTON – Houston Astros manager A.J. Hinch called Mookie Betts a “ticking time bomb” and Sunday night he finally exploded.

Betts led the majors with a .346 batting average during the regular season and he became the first batting champion in the American League or National League to also hit at least 30 home runs and steal at least 30 bases.

But through four games in the ALDS and the opening game of the ALCS, Betts hit only .200 (4 for 20) with just one extra base hit, a double, and two runs batted in. Both of those RBI came in a 16-1 clobbering of the Yankees in Game 3 of the ALDS, not in a close game when they could have mattered more.

So the Sox hoped that the right-fielder would break out of his postseason funk in Game 2 against the Astros Sunday night at Fenway Park and he did, collecting two doubles and a walk, scoring two runs and driving in another as the Sox beat the Astros, 7-5, to even the series, 1-1.

In a two-run first inning, Betts doubled off the center-field wall and scored on Andrew Benintendi’s single. In the seventh, Betts led off with a walk and advanced to second on a wild pitch, to third on a passed ball and scored on a passed ball to boost Boston’s lead to 6-4.

In the eighth, he doubled to right-center with two outs to drive in Rafael Devers to make it 7-4.

Betts went 2 for 4 on Sunday to lift his batting average this postseason to .250. Still not great, but heading in the right direction.

“I saw him smiling today, which is always good,” Sox manager Alex Cora said. “When Mookie’s smiling, good things are happening.”

“I just go out to do what I can to help the team win,” Betts said. “I’m trying to be consistent and have some good at-bats and have some timely hits and whatnot, but it’s just me. We’ve got 25 guys out here to win.”

The 5-foot-9 Nashville native had a chance to produce a key hit in a 7-2 Game 1 loss when he batted with the bases loaded and one out in the fifth. Justin Verlander had walked three in a row to force in a run that pulled the Sox within 2-1 and he threw Betts a very hittable fastball on the first pitch.

“I don’t regret swinging at it,” Betts said after Game 1 Saturday. “It was a fastball right down the middle. I just didn’t put a good swing on it and I didn’t get the job done.”

Betts grounded to third baseman Alex Bregman who threw home to force out Eduardo Nunez.

“I didn’t do my part,” Betts said. “I haven’t been doing it. I definitely need to do my part to help, but it takes the rest of us though.”

“He’s one of the most dynamic hitters in baseball,” Hinch said. “So you can imagine my thought was panic and fear whenever he comes up to bat with no escape. He can cover every pitch, he’s a threat to do a lot of different things. So I’m not really going to go over what our pitch approach is going to be to him, but the less of those at-bats (with runners on) that we can get the better because he’s a ticking time bomb to do some kind of damage.”

“A.J. is a smart guy,” Cora said. “He went to Stanford.”

Betts entered Game 1 hitting only 1 for 17 (.059) in his career against Verlander and he didn’t play the only time Verlander pitched against the Sox in the regular season, a 5-4 Sox win at Houston on June 2. After his double on Sunday, he was 6 for 9 against Astros right-hander and starter Gerrit Cole.

In his postseason career prior to Sunday, encompassing 12 games the past two years, Betts hit only .239 with no home runs, three runs and two RBI. On Sunday, he lifted his career postseason average to .260.

Sale in hospital: Starter Chris Sale reported a stomach illness Sunday and was admitted to Massachusetts General Hospital for observation, the club announced. He will be kept overnight for evaluation. Sale pitched four innings in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series on Saturday, allowing two runs in a 7-2 loss to the Astros. Officials at Fenway Park said he will not be traveling to Houston Monday. More information will be available when Sale is discharged.