ASTROS’ OFFENSE OVERMATCHED.
Astros have no answer for Tanaka as Yankees cruise to easy victory in Game 1
Alex Bregman bounded to home plate. His swagger can send Minute Maid Park into pandemonium. His swing sometimes does the same.
Strangled by the Yankees for seven innings, Houston horribly needed the latter, a sign of life for a lineup often devoid of it this postseason.
Two stood on base and the Astros trailed by five. The crowd clamored for Bregman and chanted their support for his MVP candidacy. No Astro was better built to turn around this anemic night. Instead he only made it worse.
Bregman stared out at Adam Ottavino, one of three terrifying relievers at the back end of New York’s bullpen. He served a firstpitch slider. Bregman bounced it harmlessly to Didi Gregorius. The shortstop gathered the grounder and turned two to begin the brutal end of an agonizing night.
Two more innings technically remained, but the thought of any other tangible threats seemed farfetched. Bregman’s double play removed any excitement inside the frenzied, sold-out ballpark, completing another neutralization of Houston’s suddenly sputtering offense.
Ravaged for five games in the American League Division Series by relentless Tampa Bay relievers, the Astros lineup reprised its tepid role to start the American League Championship Series. They totaled three singles against three Yankees pitchers. Only once did a baserunner pass second.
Shut out just six times during 162 regular-season games, the Astros were blanked a seventh time Saturday, losing Game 1 of the American League Championship Series 7-0 to the Yankees.
They delivered a dreadful offensive display against Yankees starter Masahiro Tanaka, getting just one hit off him in six innings. Their three hits on the night tied their fewest in any game this season.
Yankees second baseman Gleyber Torres totaled as many hits as the Astros’ entire lineup.
“I don’t think we’ve really done anything offensively this postseason,” Bregman said. “We have to string together some at-bats and pass the torch to the next guy.”
Saturday furthered an abysmal start to the Astros’ pursuit of a World Series. The lineup right now bears little resemblance to the one that hit a franchise-record 288 home runs and amassed a major-league high .275/.352/.495 slash line during the regular season.
Houston is hitting .223 through six playoff games. Only 15 of its 43 hits have garnered extra bases. George Springer, Michael Brantley and Carlos Correa have combined to go 11-for-70.
“We’re way better than that as a team,” Correa said. “We have to … make the necessary adjustments to get us back on track and put some runs on the board.”
On Saturday, it was Tanaka’s turn to tie the Astros in knots as he spun six scoreless innings. A minimum of 18 Astros batters faced him.
No man in major league history ever had allowed two or fewer runs in his first seven postseason starts. Tanaka can now claim the feat.
The Astros are far too familiar with his work.
Tanaka’s four postseason starts against the Astros are more than any major leaguer has ever made against them. Twice in the 2017 ALCS, the 30-year-old tamed the Astros.
In the 2015 American League wild-card game at Yankee Stadium, Houston hammered two home runs against him and advanced to their first ALDS during their A.J. Hinch-headed renaissance.
“That’s probably the best that we’ve seen him in a small sample to execute his game plan, his pitches, his tempo,” Hinch said. “Just about everything was working for him. We couldn’t create a ton of traffic for him.”
This season, one overrun with injuries and ineffectiveness within the Yankees rotation, Tanaka was something of a constant. He made 32 starts and sported a 4.45 ERA, though trusting him on a road trip seemed unwise. Tanaka took the baseball 15 times away from Yankee Stadium. He exited those starts with a 6.05 ERA.
New York’s three-game sweep of the Twins allowed Aaron Boone time to ponder his pitching. Tanaka’s road numbers were wretched, and stout southpaw James Paxton arrived on normal rest. Boone turned nonetheless to Tanaka.
One day later, Boone appeared brilliant. Houston hit one single and drew one walk against him. Tanaka induced seven groundball outs in six innings. His slider was sublime, spun early in counts for Tanaka to jump ahead and, later in the game, deployed to put away the hapless Houston hitters.
Of the 27 sliders Tanaka threw, eight were swung on and missed. Five others were called strikes. Houston put three sliders in play. The exit velocities averaged just 69.6 mph
“He got a late break,” said Jose Altuve, who struck out against a slider in the fourth. “Normally you can see the spin on his slider, but you couldn’t see anything until the very end. It was a late break, and it was tough to hit it.”
Complemented by a trademark splitter and low-90s fastball, Tanaka’s troubles were few against a free-swinging Astros lineup. Houston saw 28 pitches through the first three innings. Tanaka threw just 68 pitches across his six spectacular innings, settling into a duel against Zack Greinke.
Five days ago, Greinke barely allowed the Astros a chance in a 10-3 loss in Game 3 against the Rays. On Saturday, he at least offered Houston an opportunity. Greinke survived six innings and yielded only three runs.
Contact against him was always hard, but he mostly dodged disaster. Through the first four innings, New York hammered six balls in play harder than 102 mph off the bat. Just one run crossed, on Torres’ fourth-inning double. Greinke finished the fifth by stranding two. He exited to a standing ovation, and Bregman loomed to begin the fifth.
Houston had not put a leadoff man aboard against Tanaka, but Bregman coaxed a full-count walk to break the malaise. Yordan Alvarez arrived for his second look at the Yankees starter.
Tanaka took the baseball and circled the mound.
He spun a spectacular firstpitch slider. He followed with a fastball Alvarez was expecting. The phenom pulverized it to right-center field. Aaron Judge galloped into the gap, but Bregman said he thought “for sure” it would fall over Judge’s head.
“I should have remembered that he’s 6-9 and he’s really athletic,” Bregman said. “He made a heck of a play, and he’s got a great arm, too.”
On contact, Bregman broke from first base. Judge gave chase and caught up to this missile — one struck at 110.7 mph off the bat. Bregman caught himself far too close to second base and slipped turning back to first. Judge uncorked a brilliant throw to first, doubling off Bregman to taper the only threat Houston posed to Tanaka.
“It’s an aggressive mistake when you make an out with the bases, and he didn’t have to,” Hinch said.
Given no support in an inning that screamed for it, Greinke returned for the home half. Torres tattooed the first pitch he saw for a solo home run into the Crawford Boxes.
Stanton supplied a solo home run, too, striking an oppositefield missile on a mislocated fourseam fastball. At the moment Greinke released the pitch, he sighed and pounded his glove, knowing the baseball was gone and the lead too vast for his vapid offense to attack.
“We don’t have time for frustration,” Hinch said. “This is a series that you just got to — they threw the first punch Game 1. We get to the next day. We can punch right back tomorrow.”