K’s Altuve in clutch, caps Fall preview

HOUSTON — It felt like late October in early May as Jose Altuve stepped into the batter’s box to face Aroldis Chapman with runners on first and second and two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning — the Yankees clinging to a one-run lead against the defending World Series champions.

A classic confrontation between two MLB superstars was about to unfold.

“I think I turned to Carlos Mendoza and said, ‘This is pretty good, isn’t it?’” Aaron Boone recalled. “This is our best against the reigning AL MVP with the game on the line.”

Altuve is considered arguably the best fastball hitter in baseball, having posted a .381 average against the pitch in 2017.

But Chapman, the highest paid closer in history, lives and dies with triple-digit stuff — having reached a record 105.1 mph on the radar gun.

So if he was going to get beat on Thursday afternoon, it was going to be with his heat. His first pitch was 100.8. Swung on and missed for strike one. His second pitch was 101. Taken for strike two.

His third and final pitch was 101.4.

Swung on and missed for strike three.

The result was a strikeout for Chapman against Altuve and an impressive 6-5 victory for the Yankees, who took three out of four from the Astros at Minute Maid Park and headed home having gone 6-1 on the road trip and 12 wins in their last 13.

Over that 13-game stretch, the Bombers have outscored their opponents 79-25.

“I wanted to be aggressive there and get ahead in the count,” said Chapman, who notched his seventh save of the season. “There’s a lot of adrenaline going on. And the situation in the game pushes you to be tougher.”

“He really reached back for a little extra,” said Boone. “And with Altuve, arguably the best fastball hitter in the league, he was able to throw three by him.”

“Am I thinking along with Chapman? What’s that? Throw harder. Throw harder,” Brett Gardner said, drawing some laughs. “When a guy throws 100plus mph it’s hard to risk getting beat on something else.”

Chapman had failed to close out the Astros on this same field in this same spot against Altuve and Carlos Correa in Game 2 of the ALCS last season — and the Bombers ultimately fell one win shy of reaching the Fall Classic.

But now here he was, picking up Gary Sanchez after the 25-year-old catcher failed to handle what should’ve been the final pitch of the game — a 101.9 mph strike-three fastball to Evan Gattis that