Houston Astros 8, NY Yankees 3

When: 8:08 PM ET, Thursday, October 17, 2019
Where: Yankee Stadium, Bronx, New York
Attendance: 49,067
Special to Digital Sports Desk by Field Level Media

THE BRONX  — George Springer and Carlos Correa hit three-run homers and the Houston Astros beat the New York Yankees 8-3 Thursday night to take a commanding three-games-to-one lead in the American League Championship Series.

The Astros can secure their third trip to the World Series in team history and second in three seasons with a win in Game 5 tonight. Right-hander Justin Verlander will pitch for the Astros against Yankees left-hander James Paxton.

Springer helped the Astros rally from an early deficit when he blasted a 1-0 splitter from Masahiro Tanaka (2-1) with nobody out in the third after the first two hitters reached base to give Houston a 3-1 lead.

Correa, who hit the game-winning homer in the 11th inning off J.A. Happ on Sunday in Game 2, gave Houston a 6-1 lead when he slammed Chad Green’s 0-1 fastball into the left field seats in the sixth. Correa’s drive occurred after first baseman DJ LeMahieu made an error to start the inning on a grounder hit by Alex Bregman.

“We just try to take advantage of the mistakes they make,” Correa said. “Today, they made some mistakes, and we were able to put up two homers, six runs on two mistakes.”

The Astros capitalized on LeMahieu’s second error and a fielding miscue by second baseman Gleyber Torres to add a run in the eighth.

LeMahieu booted a grounder by Yuli Gurriel, moving Bregman to third after his leadoff double. Bregman scored when Torres misplayed a short-hop grounder by Yordan Alvarez, extending Houston’s lead to 7-3.

Michael Brantley added an RBI single in the ninth after Torres made New York’s fourth error, the second by Torres.

The Yankees were charged with four errors in a postseason game for the first time since committing five against the Royals at Kansas City in Game 2 of the 1976 ALCS.

“We played poorly tonight, there’s no other way to explain it,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “And we need to flush this immediately because — we talked about it as a team, we need to get over this in a hurry and come put our best foot forward tomorrow.

“And now stranger things have certainly happened, a lot stranger. And we need to play a cleaner game, obviously, if we’re going to beat a team like that. But we did not get it done tonight.”

Houston’s Zack Greinke allowed one run and three hits in 4 1/3 innings. He struck out five and walked four while throwing 83 pitches.

Greinke allowed a bases-loaded walk to Brett Gardner and the Yankees appeared poised for a big first inning as Houston began getting Brad Peacock warmed up. After a mound visit from pitching coach Brent Strom, Greinke struck out Gary Sanchez on three pitches.

“That was a huge, huge time in the game where once they get one, I mean, they’re one swing away from really making it difficult on us,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said.

The strikeout began a stretch where Greinke retired 11 of 12 hitters. He ran into trouble by allowing a single to LeMahieu and walking Aaron Judge, and was replaced by Ryan Pressly.

Pressly (1-0) walked Aaron Hicks to load the bases but struck out Torres and Edwin Encarnacion, and was awarded the win by the official scorer.

Josh James allowed Sanchez’s two-run homer with nobody out in the sixth but struck out Judge with a runner on second to end the inning. Will Harris pitched a scoreless seventh, Joe Smith got two outs in the eighth and Roberto Osuna got the final four outs.

Tanaka allowed four runs (three earned) on four hits in five-plus innings. He struck out one and walked two.

“Just got too much of the plate,” Tanaka said through an interpreter about the pitch to Springer. “It was supposed to be lower than that obviously.”

The Yankees were without Giancarlo Stanton (strained right quadriceps) for a third straight game. Stanton did some running before the game and could play in Game 5.

New York also lost CC Sabathia to a left shoulder injury in the eighth. He exited after throwing a 2-1 pitch to Springer and was replaced by Jonathan Loaisiga.

–Field Level Media

Houston Astros at NY Yankees

When: 8:08 PM ET, Thursday, October 17, 2019
Where: Yankee Stadium, Bronx, New York
Preview for Digital Sports Desk by Gracenote

BRONX – The New York Yankees look to get their lethal offense in gear again when they host the Houston Astros on tonight for a critical Game 4 of the American League Championship Series after Wednesday’s scheduled contest was postponed by rain. The Yankees led the majors in runs scored during the regular season, but managed three over the last 20 innings while leaving 16 runners on base and suddenly find themselves down two games to one.

Gleyber Torres provided New York’s only run in a 4-1 setback Tuesday as he launched a solo homer for his third blast of the postseason and 10th RBI, but the Yankees could use more from Gary Sanchez (1-for-13, six strikeouts in the series), who told reporters through an interpreter: “I’m fighting to get back on track.”

The rainout gives New York a chance to turn back to ace Masahiro Tanaka, who held Houston to one hit over six scoreless innings during Game 1, and fellow right-hander Zack Greinke is slated to return to the mound for the Astros after giving up three runs over six frames in the 7-0 loss against the Yankees on Saturday.

“Whatever happens, happens, and we’ve just got to roll with the punches and keep battling,” Houston third baseman Alex Bregman told mlb.com. “Keep fighting and keep playing our brand of baseball.”

Former MVP Jose Altuve had one of two home runs for the Astros in Tuesday’s win and has hit safely in all eight postseason games, going 12-for-32 with four longballs, two doubles, two walks, six runs scored and six RBIs.

TV: 8:08 p.m. ET, Fox Sports 1

PITCHING MATCHUP: Astros RH Zack Greinke (0-2, 8.38 ERA) vs. Yankees RH Masahiro Tanaka (2-0, 0.82)

Greinke has served up five homers in two postseason starts after Torres and Giancarlo Stanton went deep against him in the Game 1 loss, among seven hits allowed. The 35-year-old, who went 8-1 with 3.02 ERA in 10 starts with Houston during the regular season after being acquired at the trade deadline, is 3-6 in 13 postseason starts – 0-3 since 2015. DJ LeMahieu, who was 1-for-3 against Greinke in Game 1, has a homer and eight RBIs in 58 regular season at-bats versus the Florida native.

Tanaka has been outstanding in the postseason while allowing one run across five innings with seven strikeouts against Minnesota in the ALDS before striking out four versus Houston. The 30-year-old native of Japan was inconsistent during the regular season (11-9, 4.45 ERA), but permitted only three runs over 12 innings against the Astros. Altuve and Carlos Correa have each homered twice in their careers against Tanaka, who is 5-2 with a 1.32 ERA in seven playoff games – 2-2, 1.50 versus the Astros.

WALK-OFFS

1. Houston LF Michael Brantley is 6-for-16 in the last four games after going 2-for-16 in the first four of the playoffs.
2. Stanton, who was 2-for-4 in Game 1, missed the last two contests with a right quad strain and is day-to-day.
3. Astros RHP Roberto Osuna earned his first save of the postseason Wednesday and has retired all eight batters he faced in the series.

Houston Astros 4, NY Yankees 1

When: 4:08 PM ET, Tuesday, October 15, 2019
Where: Yankee Stadium, Bronx, New York
Attendance: 48,998
By Field Level Media

NEW YORK — Gerrit Cole dodged trouble at times and pitched seven shutout innings as the Houston Astros beat the New York Yankees 4-1 on Tuesday to take a 2-1 series lead in the American League Championship Series.

Game 4 in the best-of-seven series is scheduled for Wednesday night, but heavy rain is in the forecast. A rainout would push the games back to Thursday and Friday.

Cole (1-0) won his third consecutive start in this year’s postseason by holding the Yankees to four hits. The right-hander, who was drafted by the Yankees in the first round in 2008 but did not sign, struck out seven and issued a career-high-tying five walks while throwing 112 pitches.

“Fastball command was a bit of a struggle, and for some reason it wasn’t early in the inning, it was more late in the inning,” Cole said. “I don’t really have a reason for that right now, but I know it will be better next time.

“But we needed to score a few runs tonight, we needed to play some sharp D, especially towards the end of the game. Again the interior defense, can’t speak enough of it.”

Cole improved to 4-1 in the playoffs with the Astros. He won his team-record 19th straight decision over a 25-game stretch since May 27 in which he has a 1.59 ERA.

Astros manager AJ Hinch said of Cole, “It’s a lot of what I’ve seen this entire year. He’s exceptional. And he gets better and better and better. …

“And he was able to manage his game at the beginning of the game and avoid the bad pitch. He had a couple of walks that — they’re not all bad walks. He kind of knows what he’s doing out there and how to navigate around certain things. But a big night and clearly our team really does respond when we know he’s pitching.”

The Astros backed Cole with early homers off Luis Severino (0-1) as Jose Altuve connected two batters in and Josh Reddick went deep leading off the second.

Houston added two runs in the seventh when Altuve scored on a wild pitch by Zack Britton and Yuli Gurriel lifted a sacrifice fly.

The Yankees threatened in the first, second, fourth and fifth against Cole, putting at least two runners on base in each of those innings.

Cole opened the game by allowing consecutive singles to DJ LeMahieu and Aaron Judge and then walked Gleyber Torres to load the bases with two outs. However, he retired Didi Gregorius on an inning-ending grounder.

In the second, he struck out Judge to strand two runners, and in the fourth, he retired LeMahieu on a fly ball to the center field warning track with two on. The Yankees nearly took the lead in the fifth, but Gregorius flied out to right field on a ball that was inches away from being a three-run homer.

“It’s obviously a little frustrating we weren’t able to break through (against Cole),” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “But I think up and down we gave ourselves a chance. And anytime you’re facing a guy like that, you want that kind of traffic. And we had that in several innings. He made big pitches when he had to.”

Cole breezed through his final two innings and needed only 10 pitches in the seventh. The Yankees finally scored when Torres hit a one-out homer in the eighth off Joe Smith.

Will Harris easily finished the eighth, and Roberto Osuna tossed a perfect ninth for the save.

Severino allowed two runs and five hits in 4 1/3 innings. He struck out six and walked three.

–Field Level Media