Game 1: Astros hang on to beat Yankees 2-1
BASEBALL: AMERICAN LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
Dallas Keuchel strikes out 10 over seven innings as host Houston shuts down NewYork. Closer Ken Giles allows a solo homer in the ninth but saves it with his fourth strikeout.
HOUSTON — Dallas Keuchel dominated the Yankees again, striking out 10 in seven scoreless innings to lead the Houston Astros over New York 2-1 on Friday night in the AL Championship Series opener.
Keuchel entered with a 1.24 ERA against the Yankees in regular season starts plus six shutout innings in the 2015 AL wild-card game, He allowed four hits — all singles — walked one and joined Nolan Ryan and Mike Scott as the only Astros pitchers to reach double digits in strikeouts in a postseason game. Keuchel lowered his postseason ERA to 0.70 in four starts.
Carlos Correa and Yuli Gurriel hit RBI singles in the fourth off loser Masahiro Tanaka, and left fielder Marwin Gonzalez threw out Greg Bird at the plate trying to score on Aaron Judge’s two-run single in the fifth.
Bird homered off Ken Giles with two outs in the ninth, and the closer struck out pinch-hitter Jacoby Ellsbury. Giles escaped a two-out jam in the eighth by striking out Didi Gregorius.
Greeted by MVP chants each time to the plate, Jose Altuve had three more hits and with 11 has the most in a team’s first five postseason games since Seattle’s Ichiro Suzuki in 2001.
MVP matchup: Altuve is a big fan of Aaron Judge. Just not this month.
Altuve and the Yankees’ Judge are front-runners for the AL MVP award, but Altuve said before Game 1 he would vote for New York’s slugger if he had a ballot.
“Maybe (in) another life I want to be Aaron Judge and hit all those homers,” Altuve said.
Power isn’t the most prominent asset for the 5-foot-6 Altuve, but he had just the 10th three-homer game in playoff history in the ALDS against Boston. The second baseman led the majors with a .346 batting average this season, and his 204 hits were most in the AL. He was third in the AL with 32 stolen bases and his 112 runs scored ranked second.
The 6-7 Judge led the AL with 52 homers and finished second with 114 RBIs. He was first in the AL with 128 runs scored and his 79 extra-base hits ranked second.
The MVP candidates met at this year’s All-Star Game, and Judge was impressed with Altuve as well.
“I talked to him a little bit and what a great guy,” Judge said. “You see what he does on the baseball field, but the type of person he is you see the passion he has for the game, it’s pretty fun to watch.”
While Altuve is never shy about complimenting others, it is nearly impossible to get him to talk about himself, but his manager and teammates are happy to do so.
That was the case when Houston manager A.J. Hinch was told Altuve said he would vote for Judge.
“Yet another reason why Jose Altuve is a perfect player,” Hinch said. “He’s humble in his own accomplishments and very complimentary of others. … I will always back Jose Altuve (but) I think in this regard I got to tell him he’s wrong; Jose Altuve’s the MVP.”
In news Friday before the game, right-hander Collin McHugh was added to the Houston roster. The Astros are going with 12 pitchers and 13 position players.
McHugh, who went 5-2 with a 3.55 ERA in 12 starts during an injury-plagued season, had been the oddman out when Hinch went with only 11 pitchers for the AL Division Series.