Houston earns 2nd World Series trip
HOUSTON — Charlie Morton and Lance McCullers combined on a three-hitter, Jose Altuve and Evan Gattis homered and the Houston Astros reached the World Series for only the second time, beating the New York Yankees 4-0 Saturday night in Game 7 of the AL Championship Series.
Just four years removed from their third straight 100-loss season in 2013, the Astros shut down the Yankees on consecutive nights after dropping three in a row in the Bronx.
Next up for the Astros: Game 1 of the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday. Los Angeles opened as a narrow favorite, but Houston aces Dallas Keuchel and ALCS MVP Justin Verlander will have plenty of rest before the matchup begins at Dodger Stadium.
The previous time the Astros made it this far, they were a National League team when they were swept by the Chicago White Sox in 2005.
Manager A.J. Hinch’s club has a chance to win that elusive first title, while trying to boost a region still recovering from Hurricane Harvey.
“This city, they deserve this,” McCullers said.
Clutch defensive plays by third baseman Alex Bregman and center fielder George Springer helped Houston improve to 6-0 at Minute Maid Park in these playoffs and become the fifth team in majorleague history to capture a seven-game postseason series by winning all four of its home games.
Morton bounced back from a loss in Game 3 to allow two hits over five innings. Starterturned-postseason reliever McCullers limited the Yankees to one hit, fanning six, over the next four.
Combined, they throttled the wild-card Yankees one last time in Houston. Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez and their New York teammates totaled just three runs in the four road games.
“I know people are going to
talk about how we didn’t win many games on the road,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. “There were some other teams that haven’t won many games on the road, either. We just happened to run into a very good team that just beat us.”
CC Sabathia entered the
game 10-0 with a 1.69 ERA in 13 starts this season after a Yankees loss. But he struggled with command and was gone with one out in the fourth inning.
Houston was up 2-0 in the fifth when former Yankees catcher Brian McCann hit a two-run double. He had snapped an 0-for-20 skid with an RBI double to give Houston its first run on Friday night.
Altuve was 8-for-25 with two homers and four RBIs in the ALCS after hitting .533 with three homers and four RBIs in the ALDS against Boston.