LeMahieu, Hicks lift Yankees over Astros Paxton outduels Verlander
NEW YORK, Oct 19, (AP): James Paxton was filled with nerves, and so were New York Yankees fans, worried the season was slipping away.
Tension only surged when the top of the first featured a little grounder that got away, a passed ball and a run-scoring wild pitch. No worries. Boom! D.J. LeMahieu drove Justin Verlander’s second pitch over the wall to tie the score.
Clang! Aaron Hicks hit a three-run homer off the foul pole later in the inning.
Just like that, the Bronx Bombers were back – in the game, and in this matchup of powerhouses.
BASEBALL
A day after a brutal loss, and with little margin for more errors, the Yankees played like a 103-win team. Paxton chilled Houston’s bats and the bullpen followed with shutdown relief to beat the Astros 4-1, cutting New York’s AL Championship Series deficit to 3-2.
Now the teams rush to Texas, where the series resumes Saturday night without a day off. With pitching plans disrupted by a rainout earlier this week, both teams plan all-bullpen efforts in Game 6. But Gerrit Cole, 19-0 since May, looms as the Astros’ starter on Sunday if New York manages to extend the matchup to the seven-game limit.
Paxton, a fishing aficionado born outside Vancouver in Ladner, British Columbia, wore three-quarter-length sleeves on a night with a game-time temperature of 52 degrees. That was the coldest for a Verlander start since last year’s ALCS opener at Boston, according to STATS – he had on long sleeves and half of Houston’s fielders had hoodies or balaclavas.
After lasting just 2-1/3 innings in Game 2, Paxton struck out nine in six innings, allowing four hits and four walks. Punching his pitching hand into his glove after big strikeouts, he saved his biggest emotion for his 112th and final pitch. Manager Aaron Boone had just made a trip to the mound, unsure whether he would make a change.
Robinson Chirinos hit a first-pitch fastball that Brett Gardner caught in front of the left-field scoreboard with a runner on.
After Tommy Kahnle allowed George Springer’s one-out single in seventh and walked José Altuve, Zack Britton retired Michael Brantley and Alex Bregman. Britton struck out two in a perfect eighth, and Aroldis Chapman finished with a 1-2-3 ninth for the save.
Paxton out-pitched Verlander, an eight-time All-Star and former AL MVP and Cy Young Award winner, on a night when each team had five hits.
Verlander opened with a JV first inning – not Justin vintage, but junior varsity. He allowed a pair of firstinning homers for the first time in 28 postseason starts and gave up four runs in an inning for the first time since Houston acquired him from Detroit in August 2017.
Verlander retired 10 in a row after Hicks’ homer and wound up allowing five hits in seven innings with nine strikeouts and no walks.
A night after the Yankees made four errors in one of their messier games this season during an 8-3 loss, Paxton fell behind after 14 pitches. Springer reached on an infield hit, took second on Gary Sánchez’s passed ball, advanced on a groundout and scored when Paxton bounced a breaking ball off Sánchez’s glove for a wild pitch.
New York came out swinging against Verlander, who had been 4-0 with a 2.38 ERA against the Yankees in seven postseason starts.
LeMahieu fouled off a pitch, then drove a fastball 355 feet to right-center for New York’s first postseason leadoff homer since Derek Jeter in the 2009 ALCS against the Angels.
Aaron Judge singled and Gleyber Torres doubled. Verlander struck out Giancarlo Stanton, who went 0 for 3 with two strikeouts after missing three games with a strained right quadriceps.
Hicks was sidelined for more than two months by a right elbow injury that made him wonder whether he would need Tommy John surgery, then made a surprise return for the ALCS and re-entered the starting lineup for Game 3.