WORKING IN A COLE MINE
Houston pitching has Cleveland going down, down, down
HOUSTON — Players know. In many ways, they are the best scouts, especially when it comes to elite talent.
When I asked Jose Altuve what his reaction was when his Astros landed right-hander Gerrit Cole in a January trade with the Pirates, Altuve said: “After winning a World Series and then the first thing you see in the news is that we got Gerrit Cole, one of the best pitchers in the big leagues, you as a player, that’s a sign from the front office that tells you, ‘OK, we’re not really comfortable with one. We want to win more.’ ”
Cole — making his first postseason start for the Astros, fourth overall, on Saturday — delivered one to remember, going seven innings, allowing one run on a Francisco Lindor home run, striking out 12 and not walking a batter in Houston’s 3-1 win over the Indians at Minute Maid Park to take a 2-0 lead in the ALDS.
Cole became the second pitcher in MLB history to record 12-plus strikeouts with no walks in a postseason game — joining the Mets’ Tom Seaver, who struck out 13 with no walks against the Reds in Game 1 of the 1973 NLCS, exactly 45 years ago to the day. You’ll remember the Yankees were in the hunt for Cole, but it was the Astros who sealed the deal with the Pirates.
One more win and the Astros are back in the ALCS. In two games, the Indians have scored three runs, with the 1-2 punch of Justin Verlander and Cole leading the way for Houston.
“He dominated the game,” A.J Hinch said of Cole. “He’s as focused — I say this about Verlander; it’s like copy-paste — he was focused. He made a mistake, and he learned from it with the Lindor homer. He was emotional. I loved the emotion off the mound when he’s getting big strikeout after big strikeout. This is one of the best offenses in the league. They can do damage. They can put long at-bats together. He used all his pitches. He was creative.
“What else can I say? He was awesome.”
Cole gave an impressive scouting report on Seaver, saying, “Tom Seaver, high heat, nasty breaking ball, workhorse. That era is fun to watch from some of the clips I’ve been able to come by.” Cole is so thrilled being an Astro. “Just being here is an unbelievable opportunity, and I just try to take advantage of it the best I can,” he said. “We have an unbelievable group that sells out every pitch. We don’t make it about ourselves. We make it about each other.” That is the Astros’ genius. Trailing 1-0 in the sixth, Altuve started the rally with an infield single to third that appeared to be going foul but was picked up by Josh Donaldson, partly because Altuve slipped out of the box. Altuve got up quickly and beat the throw. A walk to Alex Bregman and a line out to left and Tito Francona decided it was enough for Carlos Carrasco. He brought in Ex-Yankees lefty Andrew Miller.
Switch-hitter Marwin Gonzalez flipped to the right side and lined a two-run, opposite-field double down the line for the lead. Gonzalez was 4-for-4.
Bregman, who hit his second home run of the series in the seventh, said Cole is a differencemaker.
“He’s an All-Star elite, elite, elite pitcher,” Bregman said. “To put him in the mix with Verlander, [Charlie] Morton and [Dallas] Keuchel and [Lance] McCullers, it’s special. I was very, very, very thrilled and then found out that he’s just not a good dude at all. We hate him. No, I’m kidding. We love him. He’s great. He’s great in the clubhouse, too.’’
Bregman and the Astros can joke up 2-0.
The Astros know their pitching will carry them. The Indians have six lonely hits in the two losses.
“This might be the best five guys you’ve ever seen in baseball,” an excited Altuve said of the Astros starters. “You see a lot of good pitchers but they are on different teams. That’s why we are one of the best teams. It seems like our guys can throw the ball wherever they want.” So far, they have.