Gerrit Cole, Astros take Game 3 against Yankees
Houston takes 2-1 series lead in ALCS
NEW YORK – Gerrit Cole was not vintage. The long-awaited eruption from the Astros’ dormant offense did not appear. Yankee Stadium was sold out and spewing the venom for which it is so renowned.
And, still, Houston took control of the American League Championship Series with a methodical deconstruction of the New York Yankees. The Astros won 4-1, taking a 2-1 series lead with their first road victory in three tries this postseason.
Houston struck only seven hits, but seized advantage of the few mistakes the Yankees committed. José Altuve and Josh Reddick struck solo home runs against Yankees starter Luis Severino, hammering two hanging sliders.
After George Springer coaxed a walk to start the seventh, Altuve kickstarted a textbook display of fundamental baseball that supplied two sorely needed insurance runs. The Astros’ second baseman bounced an opposite-field grounder through the right side, vacated when Springer took off on the pitch. Springer glided into third without a throw.
The hit-and-run was aesthetically awesome, only the precursor for more superb situational awareness. Three-hole hitter Michael Brantely grounded to first baseman DJ Lemahieu. Lemahieu sprinted toward Springer, who was hung up between third and home.
Springer, moving his arms to wave his teammates around the bases, extended the rundown long enough for Altuve to advance to third and Brantley to second. Both men scored on a wild pitch and sacrifice fly, supplying all the support Cole needed for his final inning.
Cole’s streak of double-digit strikeout games stopped at 11. He matched his career-high with five walks. Just 13 of his pitches were swung upon and missed, a remarkably low number for the Astros’ fireballing co-ace.
Cole spun seven scoreless innings despite it all, authoring some incredible clutch moments to combat constant traffic. He struck out seven and allowed four hits.
The Yankees had a runner in scoring position during four of the seven frames he finished. Cole controlled the chaos, allowing no hits in six at-bats with runners at second or third. He struck out three of the final six hitters he saw, lending some normalcy to an otherwise peculiar, 112-pitch performance.