PITCH-PERFECT NERIS
Veteran reliever pulls another escape act as he continues to shine in his first postseason
NEW YORK — Ask his Astros teammates to describe Héctor Neris in one word, and they’ll come up with the same descriptor: Nasty. This postseason, Yankees and Mariners hitters would say the same.
For the fourth time in these playoffs, the reliever entered a game in a tense situation and shut it down, this time sending the Yankees’ most dangerous hitters — Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton — back to the dugout during a key moment in the Astros’ 5-0 win in Saturday’s Game 3 of the American League Championship Series.
That’s nine batters faced this postseason and nine batters retired for Neris.
“He’s just nasty with every pitch he throws,” Ryne Stanek said of his bullpen mate, falling back on the same word everyone else uses when discussing Neris. “He doesn’t shy away from attacking hitters and he’s got four weapons in any count, in any situation. I don’t think there’s something that ever really bothers him. He’s always very composed. He’s a pro’s pro. He’s obviously been huge and really, really good for us. He’s been the man.”
The four weapons Stanek mentioned are Neris’ split-finger fastball, sinker, four-seam fastball and slider.
When Neris stepped onto the Yankee Stadium mound with one out and a man on, he kept two of those in his back pocket. His team had just taken a 5-0 lead, but the Yankees finally had forced Cristian Javier out of the game, which energized the sellout crowd when it saw the Astros starter leaving after limiting its team to just one hit. It was Neris’ job to silence those fans and make sure the Yankees didn’t steal any momentum.
He struck out Judge on three pitches, starting him off with two sinkers before getting him to helplessly flail at a splitter in the dirt. Judge, who is 1-for-12 with three strikeouts this season, isn’t alone in getting sat down by the pitch. The splitter has been Neris’ most effective weapon, limiting opponents to just a .173 average against it this season.
Neris fed Stanton two straight sinkers, getting him to ground out the final one to Alex Bregman and end the inning.
“I knew the situation, so I just wanted to go out there and attack the zone,” Neris said. “I was trying to make (Judge) swing to hit a ground ball. I wanted a double play, but I got the strike out swinging. On the next guy, just don’t get more excited, just be on time and get him to hit the ball for an easy out that will end the inning.”
It’s a plan that sounds almost too easy when facing a pair of hitters who finished the regular season with a combined 93 home runs, including Judge’s American League recordbreaking 62.
“I just focus on what my catcher is calling and don’t look at who’s hitting, just execute the pitch,” said Neris before admitting, that he obviously knew the threat Judge presented.
“I know him, I know he can hit the ball well, he’s a great talent. But I just have to be focused and keep the ball down and attack the zone.”
It’s what Neris has done all postseason. He entered Game 1 of the Mariners series with the bases loaded and got out of it by throwing four splitters. He also threw a scoreless inning in the series-clinching 18-inning Seattle marathon and another shutout frame in Game 1 against the Yankees. It’s enough to make you forget this is Neris’ first trip to the postseason.
Now, he’s one Astros win away from making it to the World Series, where he could face the Phillies, which is who he spent eight years with and experienced just one winning season before signing with Houston in December. The Phillies led the Padres 2-1 in the NLCS, entering Saturday’s game.
“My focus stays right here,” Neris said even as his former team’s Game 4 against the Padres played on the TVs in the visitors clubhouse. “We don’t have any control over that, so we need to try to win tomorrow and that’s it.”