New York approaches elimination after batters can’t solve Greinke
NEW YORK — George Springer and Carlos Correa each hit threerun homers and the Houston Astros got another wild ace off the hook to beat the New York Yankees 83 on Thursday and reach the cusp of a second World Series visit in three years.
The Astros lead the AL Championship Series 31, putting the 2017 World Series winners on the brink of a showdown with the NL champion Washington Nationals.
Houston still has Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole queued up for this series, and the Yankees will have to beat both to survive. Verlander will start Game 5 on Friday night against James Paxton.
New York worked starter Zack Greinke hard during a 28pitch first inning, but just like with Cole in Game 3, the clutch hit never came. Many fans had left Yankee Stadium by the time the game ended shortly before 12:30 a.m.
The Yankees are at risk of failing to make the World Series for an entire decade for the first time since the 1910s.
The Yankees are 0for13 with runners in scoring position in the past two games. It didn’t help that they committed four errors in Game 4, most ever for the club in a home postseason game.
Springer lined a splitter from Masahiro Tanaka for his third inning homer, and Correa battered Chad Green’s fastball in the sixth when New York turned to its bullpen. At 25 years, 25 days, Correa is the youngest player with 10 postseason home runs, surpassing Albert Pujols.
Springer and Correa, both AllStars, have combined for just five hits in the series but four have been homers.
Tanaka allowed four runs — three earned — for New York, his most in eight postseason starts.
CC Sabathia pitched in relief for New York but was pulled with an injury during the eighth inning. Planning to retire after the season, an emotional Sabathia covered his face with his glove as he left the field for perhaps the final time. Fans shouted his name as he walked off, and Cole and Springer were among the Houston players who stood and clapped for the 39yearold.
New York catcher Gary Sanchez ended a lengthy postseason slide with a tworun homer, but a reshuffled Yankees lineup — still without injured Giancarlo Stanton — again couldn’t muster enough offense.
Sanchez snapped a 2for23 skid to start this postseason with his tworun homer in the sixth. He reached out for Josh James’ 98 mph fastball off the outside edge of the strike zone and pulled it into the seats in leftcenter.
Greinke wobbled early, walking three in the first inning for the first time since April 2007 — the inning included a fourpitch, basesloaded free pass to Brett Gardner — and fell into a quick 10 hole.
Greinke struggled especially to locate his fastball before blowing one past Sanchez during a threepitch K to end the inning. He sharpened up and retired nine straight before the Yankees pushed him out of the game while loading the bases in the fifth.
Ryan Pressly struck out Gleyber Torres — on a tight check swing — and Edwin Encarnacion to escape.
Greinke was charged with just one run, working around four walks. Cole pitched seven scoreless innings despite five walks in Game 3.
Tanaka helped shut out the Astros in Game 1 but tripped up against Springer in the rematch. The Japanese righthander left one of his signature splitters in the middle of the plate, and Springer smoked a low line drive that cleared the fence in leftcenter.
Springer is batting .132 in these playoffs, slumping just like he did in 2017 before breaking out to win World Series MVP. This homer was his 13th in the postseason, snapping a tie with teammate Jose Altuve for the club record.