Shutout sends Houston to World Series
HOUSTON — Charlie Morton and Lance McCullers combined for a three-hitter, Jose Altuve and Evan Gattis homered and the Houston Astros reached the World Series, blanking the New York Yankees 4-0 Saturday night in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series.
Just four years removed from their third straight 100-loss season in 2013, the Astros shut down the Yankees for two straight games 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 night. Houston aces Dallas Keuchel and Justin Verlander will have plenty of rest, too, before the matchup begins at Dodger Stadium.
Houston has never won even a single World Series game.
The only 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.
Now, 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.
Houston improved to 6-0 at Minute Maid Park in these playoffs and became the fifth team in major-league history to win a sevengame 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 scoreless innings. Starter-turned-postseason reliever McCullers limited the Yankees to just one hit while fanning six over the next four.
Combined, they throttled the Yankees one last time in Houston. Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez and their New York teammates totaled just three runs in the four road games.
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 fifth when former Yankees star Brian McCann came through for the second straight game by hitting a two-run double after snapping an 0-for-20 skid with an ground-rule RBI double to give Houston its first run on Friday night.
The Yankees, trying to reach the World Series for the first time since 2009, lost an elimination game for the first time this season after winning their first four in these playoffs. New York struggled on the road this postseason, with this loss dropping the team to 1-6.
New York had avoided elimination four times already this postseason, winning the AL wildcard game and then overcoming a 2-0 deficit in the best-of-five AL Division Series to beat the Cleveland Indians. That included the clinching Game 5 that Sabathia started, though he got a no decision in the Yankees' only road playoff win.
Starting in a Game 7 for the first time in his career, Sabathia got three one-pitch groundouts after giving up George Springer's leadoff single in a seven-pitch first inning.
The Astros second began with Yuli Gurriel's long drive to right field, but Judge made a running, leaping catch with his left arm fully extended on a ball that appeared headed for the seats.
After Sabathia escaped jams with two runners on in each the second and third innings, Evan Gattis started the Astros fourth with a homer off the left-field facade. The Yankees lefty was done three batters later after Josh Reddick's first hit of the ALCS put runners at first and second.
Reliever Tommy Kahnle induced an inning-ending, doubleplay grounder on his first pitch, so Sabathia allowed only one run in 3 ⅓ innings. But the 37-year-old left-hander allowed five hits and three walks without any strikeouts.