Everything’s Yankees in Game 1
Gleyber Torres kept up his October surge with a homer and five RBIs, Masahiro Tanaka polished his playoff resume and the New York Yankees blanked the Houston Astros 7-0 Saturday night in the American League Championship Series opener.
With so much attention focused on the Astros’ aces, Tanaka showed he more than belonged on this stage too. He threw one-hit ball for six innings to outpitch Zack Greinke, improving to 5-2 with a 1.32 ERA in the postseason.
Torres did his part in this matchup of 100-win behemoths with a go-ahead double, solo homer, two-run single and an RBI grounder. Moved up to third in the batting order after mashing in a sweep of Minnesota, the 22-year-old star became the youngest AL player to drive in five runs during a postseason game.
Giancarlo Stanton and Gio Urshela also homered and right fielder Aaron Judge turned in the key play, catching a line drive and doubling Alex Bregman off first base.
The Yankees will try to build on their early momentum when James Paxton starts against 21-game winner Justin Verlander in Game 2 on Sunday night. Verlander led the majors with 21 wins this season and is 14-8 with a 3.20 ERA in postseason play.
But he wasn’t at his best earlier this week, chased in the fourth inning at Tampa Bay when the Astros had a chance to clinch the AL Division Series. That game came when Verlander started on three days’ rest — he’d done that just one before, after a rainshortened outing in the 2011 playoffs.
Verlander will be on regular rest when he faces Paxton.
The New York left-hander made his first postseason start last week in the ALDS opener against the Twins and was driven out in the fifth inning.