Snappy comeback
After the high of an All-Star first half and low of a DL-heavy second half, Lance McCullers Jr. is carving up hitters again
LOS ANGELES — After the Astros took the first two games from the Yankees in the American League Championship Series, pitcher Lance McCullers Jr. felt so confident about the likelihood of advancing to the World Series that he packed a token of his team’s success for the road trip to Yankee Stadium.
A pair of black, tinted ski goggles — the kind the Astros had worn to keep beer and sparkling wine from stinging their eyes during a previous celebration for winning the Division Series — rested on a shelf in McCullers’ locker inside the visitors’ clubhouse.
They would go unused in the Bronx. The Yankees won three games in a row, including a tide-turning six-run comeback in Game 4, in which McCullers walked off the mound having allowed one run in six stellar innings.
Four days later, he would show that little, if anything, could deny his conviction when he jogged in from the bullpen to finish the seven-game war with the Yankees.
His performance on Saturday might have been one of his best, and it certainly was the most important of his life. He paused several times for deep breaths to temper his mind and pitches.
Still, he generated enough steam to power the Minute Maid Park locomotion all the way to Los Angeles, where the Dodgers had been waiting since Thursday to see who they would face in the World Series beginning Tuesday.
McCullers’ four-inning save in Game 7 — a curveball clinic that yielded one hit and one walk in the Astros’ 4-0 win — to clinch the Astros’ first World Series berth in 12 years culminated one of baseball’s best comeback stories this postseason.
Loves the big moment
“He really does love the moment,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said after the game. “I think we saw that in New York. I think we saw that tonight. It wasn’t an easy year for him, having to battle a couple of different things.”
McCullers, shouting over the blaring music of Saturday’s clubhouse celebration, said: “A.J. told me yesterday, ‘You’re gonna get the ball. Show me you want to keep it, and I’m not gonna take it from you.’ I did not want to give him a single glimpse that I didn’t want to keep that ball.’
“I would’ve pitched 20 innings tonight if I had to. I felt great. And I’m healthy. That’s all that matters.”
McCullers’ first half resulted in his selection to the AL All-Star team. He had a 7-2 record, a 3.05 ERA and 106 strikeouts in 911⁄3 innings pitched.
Then he lost a grip on the command required to harness his high-90s fastball and high-80s breaking ball. He amassed a 9.64 ERA in July.
“I sucked today,” he had said after a loss to the Blue Jays.
After a loss to the Tigers to finish the month, McCullers sounded dejected, unable to fix himself.
“We’ve been trying stuff,” he had said of attempting to identify what derailed his command. “Whatever I thought it was, obviously, (that’s) not it.”
He briefly denied he was injured before back discomfort placed him on the disabled list through August.
Usually loquacious, eager to discuss topics ranging from pitching to hairstyling to trigonometry, McCullers dodged attention. Meanwhile, the Astros rehabilitated him slowly, conservatively, in the event he could pitch in October, when his contributions would matter more.
His reclusion from reporters concealed a volcanic intensity churning inside him, ready to explode in the playoffs. He looked sharp in three innings of relief against the Red Sox in Game 3 of the ALDS. He looked like a restored ace in ALCS Game 4.
Out of his funk
“It’s the best I’ve felt in many, many months,” he said then. “I’ve been trying to tell anyone with ears that, but it seemed like it was not being heard all the time. … I’m ready to go moving forward.”
Prior to Game 7, the Astros had lost 10 of 13 elimination games in franchise history. McCullers appeared as bottled up with a want for redemption as the Minute Maid Park crowd.
He ended some at-bats in a crotch, flexing his arms and chest like a power lifter. His father, Lance Sr., had pitched for the Yankees in a career cut short by a shoulder injury and never experienced the playoffs. McCullers seized the chance to send the Yankees home and mount his own postseason legacy.
After walking third baseman Todd Frazier to begin the eighth, McCullers refocused. According to The New York Times, McCullers thought about the attack-the-strike-zone approach of Jose Fernandez, the young Marlins sensation who trained with him in past offseasons and was killed in a boating accident last year.
McCullers then committed to his breaking ball, the most devastating in the sport when commanded, and threw 24 in a row to end the game.
“I didn’t know he was going to be as dominant and go as long as he did on three days’ rest,” Hinch said. “His killer instincts, his feel for the moment is pretty impressive.”
McCullers was still feeling it during the clubhouse celebration. Shouting. Hugging. Lauding. Loving. Talking with a familiar, frenetic pace.
He got to wear the goggles again. They gave him a clear vision of the World Series matchup against the Dodgers. The Astros better their chances if McCullers winds up starting in Game 3 or 4, which will be in Houston.
“They’re a great team, the best team in the NL,” McCullers said with his goggles on. “Very similar to us.”
hunter.atkins@chron.com twitter.com/hunteratkins35