Yanks rally, tie series
New York scores two in 7th, four in 8th to even ALCS.
NEW YORK — With a soaring shot headed for Yankee Stadium’s Monument Park, Aaron Judge got New York back on track for another memorable October.
Judge ignited a rousing rally with a home run, then doubled during a four-run eighth inning to spur the New York Yankees over the Houston Astros 6-4 on Tuesday night and tie the AL Championship Series 2-2.
“I thought Aaron’s home run just lit a little spark,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said.
The Baby Bombers trailed 4-0 against starter Lance McCullers Jr. until Judge homered leading off the seventh. He tied it with a line drive that nearly left the park in the eighth and scored when Gary Sanchez hit a go-ahead two-run double off Ken Giles.
The Yankees overcame three errors and have roared back from a second straight 0-2 series deficit — they beat Cleveland in the Division Series by winning three in a row to take that best-offive matchup.
Aroldis Chapman struck out two in a perfect ninth to cap a three-hitter. New York improved to 5-0 at home in the playoffs and won for the 18th time in its last 21 home games.
Yankee Stadium will be rocking again when Masahiro Tanaka pitches for New York against Dallas Keuchel in Game 5 today. It’s a rematch of the series opener, when Keuchel outdid the Japanese right-hander in a 2-1 Astros win.
An AL MVP candidate marred in a sluggish October, Judge sparked the Yankees by chasing McCullers, who baffled the Yankees with his power breaking ball. Except for the last one. Judge launched a curveball into the netting above center field’s Monument Park for New York’s second hit.
“Once we’re within striking distance like that, anything can happen,” Judge said.
Houston manager A.J. Hinch pulled McCullers after 81 pitches, Didi Gregorius tripled off Chris Devenski and Sanchez scored Gregorius with a sacrifice fly.
Todd Frazier led off the eighth with a double to left, and pinch hitter Chase Headley then did the same — only after falling between first and second base, taking one step back, then heading for second and sliding in ahead of Jose Altuve’s tag.
“Panic,” Headley recalled. “I went from one of the best feelings of my career to one of the worst in just a matter of seconds, but fortunately it worked out.”
Brett Gardner brought in Frazier on a ground out, and Judge came to bat with the bundled crowd on its feet.
He reached down to stay with a slider and drilled a double high off the leftfield wall as a fan in a longsleeve yellow shirt reached down and touched the ball. Gardner came home with the tying run, and Gregorius grounded a single just beyond shortstop Carlos Correa’s reach to put runners at the corner. Sanchez, who had been 0 for 13 in the series, scored them both with a slicing drive that skipped to the wall in right-center field.
Houston had not lost consecutive games since Sept. 8-10 at Oakland and had the majors’ best road record during the regular season. The Astros had just three hits and are hitting .153 in the series.
Yankees starter Sonny Gray pitched one-hit ball through five innings but again had no run support. His teammates have yet to score for him in four career postseason starts, including twice with New York this year.
Houston took a 3-0 lead in the sixth when Yuri Gurriel lined a three-run double past Frazier at third base and all the way to the wall. Gurriel got hung up between second and third as Altuve scored, and he was tagged out by Judge to end a rundown.