Astros force Game 7 by thumping Yankees
Verlander, Altuve help Houston stave off elimination in 7-1 win
HOUSTON — Justin Verlander remained perfect with the Houston Astros, pitching seven shutout innings when they needed him most, and Jose Altuve homered and drove in three runs during a 7-1 victory over the New York Yankees on Friday night that extended the AL Championship Series to a decisive Game 7.
Acquired in an Aug. 31 trade, Verlander has won all nine of his outings for the Astros. And with his new club facing playoff elimination in Game 6 against the Yankees, he delivered again.
After striking out 13 in a complete-game victory in Game 2, Verlander threw another gem. The right-hander scattered five hits and struck out eight to improve to 9-0 with 67 strikeouts since being traded from Detroit.
George Springer helped him out of a jam in the seventh, leaping to make a catch at the centre-field wall and rob Todd Frazier of extra bases with two on and the Astros up 3-0.
Game 7 is tonight in Houston, with the winner advancing to the World Series against the NL champion Los Angeles Dodgers.
CC Sabathia is scheduled to start for New York against Charlie Morton in a rematch of Game 3, won 8-1 by Sabathia and the Yankees.
Brian McCann’s RBI ground-rule double in the fifth ended an 0-for-20 slump before Altuve snapped an 0-for-12 skid with a tworun single later in the inning.
Altuve then hit his fourth homer of the postseason when he connected on a solo shot off David Robertson with no outs in the eighth.
Houston improved to 5-0 at home this post-season after dropping three straight in New York as the Astros chase their second trip to the World Series.
Tonight will be just their second Game 7 in franchise history after losing the final game of the 2004 NLCS at St. Louis 5-2.
The Yankees will have to hope that their elimination-game magic continues tonight when they look to improve to 5-0 this postseason in such games and advance to the World Series for the first time since 2009.
Yankees rookie slugger Aaron Judge cut the lead to 3-1 with a homer off Brad Peacock in the eighth. But that came after Judge struck out in two of his first three at-bats to give him 26 this post-season, tying him with Alfonso Soriano for the most strikeouts in one post-season in major league history.