McCann-do attitude
Scoring finally came when needed most after 3 stagnant losses
Former Yankees catcher Brian McCann delivers first blow in Game 6.
For all of the big hits that helped the Astros force Game 7 — a couple of them, as usual, off the bat of Jose Altuve — it was the first big hit by catcher Brian McCann that seemed to snap the Astros back to normalcy after their bad week in the Bronx.
McCann’s ground rule double in the fifth, breaking a 0 for 20 skid, scored Alex Bregman with the game’s first run and was the first break the Astros had gotten in since their opening wins against a tough Yankees pitching staff.
“We were waiting for one big hit,” McCann said. “When we were in New York, they pitched about as good as you can pitch. We haven’t swung the bat great in this series, so it was good to put one up on the board the way (Justin Verlander) was throwing the ball.”
Altuve followed with a two-run base hit in the fifth and a solo homer into the Crawford Boxes in the eighth, sending the Astros home to their beds with good feelings about Game 7 on the horizon.
“I’m not going to lie to you, it’s a lot of emotions in that clubhouse,” Altuve said. “After this game … it was a crazy game, but, personally, I really like the way we play in these kind of games with everybody up,
“I believe in my team. Tomorrow is going to be a good day.”
No better time
McCann hadn’t done much to foster belief entering Game 6. He entered hitting .077 for the postseason, with just two hits in 26 at bats, and no hits since Game 2 of the Division Series against the Red Sox.
Astros lefthanded hitters in general had struggled against the Yankees, with just three hits in 55 at bats before he stepped to the plate against New York reliever David Robertson.
He rifled a 2-2 pitch on one hop into the right field stands, starting the Astros toward a three-run inning and their first productive offense of the series thus far.
“Obviously we’ve been waiting for the big hit for a couple of games,” said Astros manager A.J. Hinch. “And no better time than for McCann to have a really good at-bat battle, get a pitch he could drive, and then obviously break things open.”
As the game progressed, McCann and the rest of the Astros began working Yankees pitchers into deeper counts, and it paid off in the fifth and in their four-run outburst in the eighth.
“I’ve been getting pitched up all series, and I got a pitch out over the plate and was able to put a good swing on it,” McCann said. “We needed it, and it was big.”
He added a second hit in the eighth inning on a seeing-eye grounder into the shift that bounced off second baseman Starlin Castro’s glove, with his night’s output matching what he had produced thus far in the series.
His most valuable contribution, as usual, was working with Verlander through another effective outing. Verlander didn’t match his iron man performance of Game 2, striking out eight and allowing five hits through seven innings, but he was more than enough for the moment.
“He’s as good as they come,” McCann said. “What he does on the mound is incredible. He’s in total control of what he is doing. He can read hitters. He knows tendencies. He’s just great.”
Back to a winning recipe
As for Altuve, who along with McCann provided the offensive output that was sorely lacking in the three losses in New York, McCann said the second baseman proved worthy of the crowd’s chants on his behalf, “Altuve carried us. Verlander pitched great, and Altuve carried us, and that has been the recipe for our success,” McCann said. “He is the MVP of this team and gets big hit after big hit.”
Altuve’s two-RBI single in the fifth was his first hit since Game 2 and his 14th of the postseason. With 15 hits after his eighth-inning home run, he now has six multihit games and now trails only Carlos Beltran’s 20 hits in 2004 for the Astrso career lead.
His performance Friday night, he said, enables him to put his rough time in New York behind him, and now Game 7 awaits.
“All year long it’s been special,” he said. “I know (Saturday) we have a little extra because it’s the seventh game. … We’ve got to go out there and make it happen.”
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