Defense the unsung hero of Game 7 win.
Impeccable fielding played a big role in run to World Series
Woeful batting averages, ineffective relievers, breakthrough hits and redemptive starting pitching defined the Astros in the American League Championship Series.
Their excellent and, at times, spectacular defense went overlooked. Marwin Gonzalez rifled. Josh Reddick crashed. George Springer leapt. Alex Bregman zipped a throw home to Brian McCann — a tight-rope attempt that inspired Bergman’s self-motivational frat brother parlance during his team’s triumphant Game 7: “You better put this on the cash.’”
Individual plays kept the Yankees from overcoming narrow leads in the first two games and continuing their Bronx outburst in the final two games in Houston. The Astros’ defense proved as valuable as their timely hits and pitches to prevailing in the sevengame series.
A picture-perfect throw Gonzalez, the Astros’ Swiss army knife known for his quality fielding at five positions, had not started more than 14 games in left field before 2017. He has looked like a natural in October.
After gunning down Red Sox first baseman Mitch Moreland in the clinching Game 4 of the Division Series, Gonzalez replicated the play in the opener of the ALCS against the Yankees. Gonzalez scooped a ball driven into left and fired it, tumbling in the process, on one hop to home plate, where the catcher McCann tagged out Yankees first baseman Greg Bird.
Bird later hit a home run that narrowed the Astros’ lead to 2-1, increasing the value of Gonzalez’s assist.
“The throw had to be perfect,” Astros designated hitter Carlos Beltran had said of Gonzalez’s game-saving throw. “The bounce had to be perfect. And the catch (by McCann) had to be clean. All that happened. We just got him by a couple inches.”
“I came into the dugout telling George (Springer), that I wouldn’t even try to make that throw,” Reddick said.
Reddick’s 0-for-22 slump, which tied the record for the longest hitless streak in a postseason series, overshadowed consecutive highlight plays the right fielder had made in the third inning of Game 2.
First, Reddick stole an extrabase hit from Yankees designated hitter Chase Headley with a crashing catch at the wall. Starter Justin Verlander turned, watched and applauded the outcome.
Verlander would be more grateful for the next play, which would preserve another 2-1 win for the Astros. Yankees left fielder Brett Gardner pulled a ball to right and attempted a triple. Reddick raced to the corner and, in one motion, planted his left foot with his knee bent in a loaded position to throw. Then Reddick grabbed the ball and launched a throw to shortstop Carlos Correa. Gardner sprinted from home plate to third base in 11.24 seconds, according to Statcast. Only because of Reddick’s quick throw could Correa finish the relay in time to get Gardner.
“That was an awesome play,” Gonzalez said after Game 2, which the Astros also narrowly won 2-1. “Who knows what was coming after that?”
The catch of his career
The Astros appeared restored after returning home down 3-2 in the series, but they did not look dominant until after a scare in the seventh inning of Game 6.
The Astros were ahead 3-0, when the Yankees put two men on base and third base man Todd Fra-zier launched a ball to deep center field.
“I thought homer,” said Verlander, who carried a scorelessinnings streak into the game. “All you can do as a pitcher is watch the outfielder track it and track it and track it.”
Verlander was watching Springer, who launched into a dead sprint off contact and timed his leap well enough for a soft landing against the outfield wall.
“That was obviously one of the big turning moments in the game,” Verlander said.
Considering the Yankees had rallied for a comeback before and another loss would end the Astros’ season, Springer agreed the moment also signified the most important catch of his life.
The Yankees would not score that inning and the Astros completed a 7-1 rout.
The Astros’ anemic offense in the ALCS did not seem more reliable entering Game 7.
Still, Astros manager A.J. Hinch sacrificed some offense for defense.
Hinch never would characterize his decision that way. He does not admit to making concessions.
But arranging the bottom of his lineup with McCann, Gonzalez and Reddick — a hitless trio against lefthanded pitching up to that point in the series — seemed like a gift to Yankees lefty starter CC Sabathia.
The potential reward of starting McCann at catcher outweighed the risk of a poor offensive performance.
Previously, in Game 3, when Sabathia kicked off the first of three consecutive Yankees wins in the Bronx, Hinch had left out McCann in favor of the righthanded, inferior defenseman, Evan Gattis. Gattis exacerbated a collapse in the fourth inning.
With two outs and the bases loaded, Gattis could not block a Will Harris curve in the dirt. Gattis crudely stabbed at the ball instead of trying to absorb it with a proper body block.
A run scored and all runners advanced when the ball scooted toward the backstop. Harris later admitted he did not have a good feel for his breaking ball, but seeing Gattis’ gaffe could not have helped instill confidence in a pitch Harris needed to command. Yankees rookie terror Aaron Judge proceeded to line a three-run homer on Harris’ fastball.
Bregman’s heads-up decision
Clinging to a 1-0 lead in the fifth inning of Game 7, the Astros allowed runners on the corners with one out. Frazier dribbled a grounder toward third, Bregman passed up an easier out at first to nail Bird — once again the victim of an elite fielding arm — on a close play at home.
Bregman aimed the throw low so McCann would have a shorter distance to swipe his glove for a tag.
McCann deftly kept the ball off the dirt and laid his glove between Bird’s cleat and the plate.
The Yankees did not push a run across that inning or in any other.
During his beer-soaked euphoria after the game, Bregman recounted a less aggressive decision he had made to try for a double play during a similar situation near the end of the regular season.
Hinch forgave the decision then, but he offered Bregman strongly worded feedback. The manager told the young third baseman it is more important in the playoffs to save a run.
Because who knows what could come after?