Tanaka is terrific as Yankees blank Astros in Game 5
NEW YORK — Masahiro Tanaka pitched seven innings of three-hit ball and the New York Yankees finally solved Houston Astros nemesis Dallas Keuchel, beating the ace lefty, 5-0, on Wednesday for a 3-2 lead in Major League Baseball’s American League Championship Series.
Gary Sanchez hit an RBI single off Keuchel and later homered to help the wild-card Yankees win for the third straight day at home and move within one victory of their first trip to the World Series since 2009.
The teams head back to Houston for Game 6 on Friday night, when Justin Verlander and the reeling Astros will try to regain their footing following an off day and force a decisive Game 7. Luis Severino is scheduled to start for New York.
Just days ago, Houston was up two games to none and appeared to be closing in on its second World Series appearance. But the Astros, like defending AL champion Cleveland before them, have been unable to put away these poised Yankees, who improved to 6-0 at home in this post-season.
Aaron Judge, Greg Bird and Didi Gregorius also delivered big hits as New York chased Keuchel in the fifth and handed him his first post-season loss. The 2015 AL Cy Young Award winner had been Yankees kryptonite throughout his career, entering 6-2 with a 1.09 ERA in eight career starts against New York, including a pair of scoreless outings in playoff wins.
Both of those came at the expense of Tanaka, who lost 3-0 to Keuchel in the 2015 AL wildcard game at Yankee Stadium and 2-1 in Game 1 of this series.
But this night belonged to Tanaka and the Baby Bombers.
New York broke through against Keuchel with two outs in the second, when Starlin Castro doubled to deep left-centre and scored on Greg Bird’s sharp single.
In the third, Judge grounded an RBI double just inside the third-base line. Brett Gardner sped all the way around from first and scored with a headfirst slide.
Alex Bregman’s throwing error on Chase Headley’s infield single aided the Yankees in the fifth. Keuchel pitched around Judge and walked him with two outs before Sanchez lined a runscoring single. Going into that at-bat, Sanchez was 1 for 16 with seven strikeouts in the series — and 0 for 8 with 6 strikeouts against Keuchel overall.
Gregorius then grounded an RBI single up the middle that grazed the glove of diving second baseman Jose Altuve. With the score 4-0, that was it for Keuchel after he yielded his most runs ever to New York.
Sanchez hit his third postseason homer off Brad Peacock in the seventh to make it 5-0.
The highest-scoring team in the majors this season, Houston batted .153 through the first four games of the series and fared no better against Tanaka. The righthander from Japan, who can opt out of his $155-million contract this winter, has been at the top of his game in October.
He worked around a leadoff double in the second, when the Yankees successfully played their infield in with Yuli Gurriel on third and one out in a scoreless game.
Tanaka later spun around and shouted in excitement after striking out struggling tablesetters George Springer and Josh Reddick with two on to end the fifth.
Tanaka received treatment on his leg between starts after being struck by Reddick’s liner in Game 1, but showed no ill effects. Keeping the ball down with his slider and splitter, he struck out eight and walked one.
Up next Astros: Verlander will try to get the Astros to Game 7. The 2011 AL MVP is 8-0 in eight outings for Houston since agreeing to a trade from Detroit, just minutes before the Aug. 31 deadline for post-season eligibility. He is 3-0 with a 2.04 ERA in these playoffs, including a series-clinching victory in relief during the Division Series against Boston and his five-hitter to beat the Yankees on a season-high 124 pitches in Game 2. The right-hander is 10-5 with a 3.18 ERA in his postseason career. Yankees: Severino gave up just one run and two hits over four innings in Game 2 but was pulled as a precaution after throwing only 62 pitches because New York manager Joe Girardi was concerned about the 23-year-old right-hander pitching hurt, saying he didn’t look comfortable in his mechanics. Girardi said Severino didn’t require any tests and, by now, the Yankees are confident he’s fine. “I feel good about where he’s at,” Girardi said Wednesday.