HOUSTON — Houston Astros shortstop Carlos Correa Andrelton Simmons Jersey , mired in an extended batting slump linked to debilitating back soreness, will not play this weekend against the Los Angeles Angels.Correa (.238, 14 home runs, 62 RBIs) missed 36 games after landing on the 10-day disabled list on June 26. Presumed healthy upon his return, Correa has struggled instead, posting a .174/.257/.223 slash line with only four extra-base hits in 140 plate appearances since being reinstated from the DL on Aug. 10.“I don’t like it by any means, but it’s just the reality for us,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said of Correa and his lingering back woes. “I think for Carlos to be who he is and what he can do for us we’ve got to get him to feel better.Article continues below ...“I’m not concerned that it’s going to impact too much longer, but I don’t like that one of our best players isn’t feeling great.”That Correa, who slashed .315/.391/.550 with 24 homers and 84 RBIs in 109 games last season, initiated his slump well before going on the DL is another concern.Correa last had an OPS above .900 on May 14. Since then http://www.angelsfanproshop.com/authentic-yunel-escobar-jersey , he owns a .205/.286/.328 line in 280 plate appearances.“He’s a perfectionist by nature so I think performance-wise he always wants to be elite,” Hinch said. “From a comfort standpoint, he hasn’t looked comfortable. He’s been able to maintain that defensively, but it’s looked like he’s had a little bit of a governor on his swing when he’s been up to bat.“I haven’t seen him let it go really since the time he’s been off the DL.“Of course it weighs on him. He wants to be out there, he wants to be good, he wants to hit in the middle of the order, he wants to lead us to a division title and beyond. He’s frustrated.”Right-hander Justin Verlander (16-9, 2.67 ERA) will make what is tentatively scheduled to be his penultimate start of the season on Saturday for the Astros (96-57), who clinched a postseason berth with an 11-3 victory on Friday. With his next strikeout, Verlander will set a season career high of 270, eclipsing his previous best set in 2009.After a rough August Martin Maldonado Jersey , Verlander has rebounded in September, going 3-0 with a 1.71 ERA and 29 strikeouts in 21 innings and three starts. He is 4-1 with a 2.16 ERA in four starts against the Angels this season and 12-9 with a 3.12 ERA in 24 career starts against them.Right-hander Jaime Barria (10-9, 3.61 ERA) will make the 25th start of his rookie season and 12th on the road. He has an active streak of 15 scoreless innings away from Angel Stadium and has compiled a 2.53 ERA on the road. Barria is 1-1 with a 2.81 ERA in three starts against the Astros this season.About the only thing of interest that remains for the slumping Angels (75-79), who lost for the sixth time in eight games, is the pursuit by All-Star center fielder Mike Trout of a third American League Most Valuable Player award. Trout, the league MVP in 2014 and 2016 and runner-up in 2012, 2013 and 2015, clubbed his 37th home run in the series opener.Trout has homered in consecutive games and four times in the last five games to move to within four homers of his career high of 41 set in 2015. He finished 1-for-4 with two RBIs after entering the weekend leading the majors in on-base percentage (.463), slugging (.629), OPS (1.092), and adjusted OPS (199).“Nah http://www.angelsfanproshop.com/authentic-j.-c.-ramirez-jersey , I don’t even pay attention to it,’ Trout said of the MVP chase. “I’m just trying to finish strong and don’t give up any at-bats because they’re running out.” BOSTON (AP) — Red Sox manager Alex Cora didn’t want his lefties to feel left out.Even as Los Angeles loaded its lineup with right-handed batters to face Boston lefty Chris Sale, Cora stayed with Andrew Benintendi and Rafael Devers against left-handed Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw in Game 1 of the World Series on Tuesday night.Benintendi responded with four hits — going 3 for 3 against the three-time NL Cy Young Award winner — and three runs. Devers drove in one of them to lead the Red Sox to an 8-4 victory in a blustery Series opener.“We’re facing a guy who’s one of the best of all time. And a lot of guys didn’t have a lot of experience off of him; the first time a lot of us have faced him. Didn’t really know what to expect,” Benintendi said. “We had a good game plan. We stuck to it.”Benintendi had one four-hit performance in the regular season but had never topped two in a postseason game during his career. The 24-year-old left fielder became just the second lefty ever to have three hits against Kershaw in a game.“He hangs in there with lefties,” Cora said. “We do feel that he’s a good hitter against them. When he’s using the whole field, he becomes very dangerous.”Benintendi had an RBI single and came around to score in the first, singled again in the third and singled a third time to chase Kershaw with nobody out in the fifth before scoring to give Boston a 5-3 lead.In the seventh, Benintendi sliced a double that handcuffed charging left fielder Joc Pederson and scored on Eduardo Nunez’s pinch-hit homer.“He got lucky, too,” Cora said. “Twice, probably.”Although Kershaw is tough on everybody Darin Erstad Jersey , he’s not that much better against lefties (who have a .195 batting average against him over his career) than righties (.211). So Cora decided to stick with left-handed regulars Benintendi and Jackie Bradley Jr., as well as Devers, who has platooned with Nunez.Leaving Nunez on the bench was a tough call for the manager, requiring a talk with the 31-year-old third baseman who had never played in the World Series before and had started against every lefty in the playoffs so far.“We felt Raffi was going to hang in there with Kershaw, and having (Nunez) on the bench, it was going to pay off,” Cora said. “So keeping him in the dugout and out of the lineup was going to probably give us a chance to win the game. And it worked out.“He was prepared. He wasn’t upset, actually, that he wasn’t playing. I told him, ‘Be ready, man. You might have a big at-bat tonight and do your thing.’ And he did.”Kershaw and Sale were both chased in the fifth inning. With righty Pedro Baez on the mound in the seventh http://www.angelsfanproshop.com/authentic-justin-upton-jersey , Dodgers manager Dave Roberts brought in lefty Alex Wood to face Devers.Cora countered with Nunez, and he hit a low breaking pitch into the first row of the Green Monster seats to give Boston an 8-4 lead.“That was the plan and we did it,” Nunez said. “I think he makes great moves. He watches a lot of video. He’s very smart. I think that he’s the reason we’re here. Because every move we make, it’s for a reason, and it’s a good reason.”