The Houston Astros entered the AL Championship Series aching

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HOUSTON (AP) — .Jose Altuve was playing on just one good knee , Carlos Correa’s back was never right and Lance McCullers was pitching through an injury that will likely require surgery.Now the Astros are hurting even worse, done after losing four straight to the Red Sox to end their bid to repeat as champions.“The heart of this team really (is) unparalleled,” said ace Justin Verlander, whose big season helped the Astros go deep in the playoffs. “We had guys playing through so much. I’m not going to name anyone specifically, but I think you could see some of it on the field and how hard guys were grinding trying to help us win.”It was a disappointing end for the Astros to a stellar year in which they won a franchise-record 103 games to capture the AL West for a second straight season. The Astros had no trouble in the division series, sweeping the Cleveland Indians to set up a meeting with the 108-win Red Sox.The Astros won Game 1, before the Red Sox took over, winning one game in Boston before taking all three games in Houston to reach the World Series for the first time since 2013.“We’ll learn from it and everyone in here will have a little bit of an edge to play with it (will) be a chip on their shoulder knowing that we believe we should have been back-to-back champions,” third baseman Alex Bregman said. “And I know every day when I wake up and the rest of these guys wake up during the offseason, there will be one thing on their mind, and that’ll be working toward winning it next year.”Correa remained in the dugout after the last out on Thursday night, staring onto the field as the Red Sox celebrated on the Astros’ home field after a 4-1 win.“I was just thinking that I don’t want to ever feel this feeling again of losing ,” he said. “It’s just devasting to lose when we know what kind of team we have.”It was a year where Bregman led Houston’s offense by posting career highs in batting average (.286), homers (31), RBIs (103) and doubles (51), while Altuve struggled for most of the second half with right knee injury. The reigning AL MVP returned from the first stint of his career on the disabled list on Aug. 21, but never fully recovered from the injury.It got so bad in the ALCS that the six-time All-Star second baseman couldn’t play defense and served as Houston’s designated hitter for the last three games.“It’s all about heart with him,” manager AJ Hinch said. “He is such a great example of what’s right … I wish you guys knew what he had to go through to play every day and get himself prepared and then contribute and do well.”Correa got better late in the series and had three hits in Game 4 but admitted before the series that his back hurt so bad sometimes that it was difficult to walk. He is confident that extended rest will clear up the problem and that he’ll be ready to go for next season.The same can’t be said for McCullers, a right-hander who started and pitched in relief for the Astros this season. The 25-year-old pitched just four times in the regular season after July 29 as he dealt with what the team called discomfort in his right elbow.McCullers wouldn’t provide specifics on his injury on Thursday night, but he wouldn’t deny that he’s going to need surgery on his elbow.“We’re going to figure all that stuff out,” he said. “I’m pretty banged up … so that’s going to be something that down the road in the next couple of days or couple of weeks we’ll figure out.”Now the Astros will face an offseason with several questions about their roster with a list of potential free agents including pitchers Charlie Morton and Dallas Keuchel, catchers Brian McCann and Martin Maldonado, and all-purpose player Marwin Gonzalez.Keuchel, the 2015 Cy Young Award winner , who is one of the longest tenured Astros after debuting in 2012 said he’d like to return but is disappointed that the team hadn’t tried to negotiate with him sooner.“There’s been seven years where there could have been extension talks, but one thing or another it just hasn’t come to a head,” he said. “But I’d like to be in this locker next year … it’s just going to be a weird feeling not knowing what’s next.” LOS ANGELES (AP) — For the first time since the Milwaukee Brewers began their incredible late-season surge, their bats went cold enough to lose.The Brewers managed just eight hits over 13 innings in their 2-1 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday night, evening the NL Championship Series at 2 games apiece.With the chance to move to the brink of the World Series, a lineup that was resourceful and powerful throughout the regular season and in the division series couldn’t hit a homer or string together any significant rallies.Just two of the Brewers’ hits went for extra bases. They went 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position, stranding 10 runners.Those struggles made it even more painful when Manny Machado slid home with the winning run on Cody Bellinger’s single.“There’s a bunch of guys we need offense from,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. “We’ve got some good contributions from guys at the bottom. But I think a bunch of guys are not really on it right now offensively.”The most prominent struggler is Christian Yelich, the likely NL MVP from nearby Thousand Oaks. He went 1 for 5 with a single and a walk in Game 4, dropping the regular-season triple crown contender to 3 for 16 (.188) with no extra-base hits or RBIs in the NLCS.Yelich isn’t alone in his slump, however: Milwaukee is batting .224 through four games in the NLCS, striking out 41 times — which would seem like a lot if the Dodgers hadn’t struck out 49 times.“We had opportunities that we didn’t take advantage of ,” Yelich said. “Eventually it’s going to catch up to you. It was a hard-fought game. It was a great baseball game, it really was. Both sides had opportunities, and they were just able to catch one in there at the end.”The Brewers hadn’t scored fewer than two runs in a game since Pittsburgh blanked them on Sept. 22. Milwaukee promptly won its final seven regular-season games and an NL Central tiebreaker against the Chicago Cubs to earn its first division title since 2011, and the Brewers did more than enough at the plate in a sweep of Colorado in the Division Series.While they haven’t pounded the ball with the proficiency of Boston or Houston, the Brewers entered Game 4 of the NLCS leading the playoffs with a .265 team batting average.But Milwaukee lost for just the second time in its last 15 games because the Brewers didn’t generate nearly enough offense to back their pitching staff, which turned in another stellar night of work. Even in their only other loss during this 15-game stretch, the Brewers scored three runs in Game 2 of the NLCS.Ryan Braun contributed three singles in Game 4, but the rest of the lineup was dire. Milwaukee got only two runners to third base, none after the seventh inning.Lorenzo Cain went 0 for 6 in the leadoff spot. Mike Moustakas also went 0 for 6, while Jonathan Schoop, Jesus Aguilar and Orlando Arcia were a combined 2 for 15.Pinch-hitter Domingo Santana drove in the Brewers’ only run with a fifth-inning double that scored Arcia. Manny Pina led off the seventh with a double punctuated by a big celebration at second base, but he didn’t score.The Dodgers’ defense also contributed to the woes with several nifty plays , including Cody Bellinger’s full-stretch, diving catch of Cain’s sinking liner leading off the 10th.The Brewers don’t have much time to fix their woes, but Counsell might need to contemplate more lineup changes for Game 5. Moustakas is 2 for 17 with six strikeouts in the NLCS, while Cain is 4 for 20 with seven strikeouts and Aguilar is 3 for 14.“I think there’s a bunch of guys we need to get going, and we will,” Counsell said. “I think good players will get good offense going, and we’re going to need it, and I expect it to happen.”