ASTROS PUT YANKEE STADIUM WOES BEHIND THEM.
Yankee Stadium proves no match for visitors as 107-win team starts playing like itself again
NEW YORK — Yankee Stadium? Whatever.
The Astros were the real savages in the Bronx in Game 3. Now A.J. Hinch’s team is two wins away from returning to the World Series.
Gerrit Cole expertly pitched out of trouble, trouble and more trouble. José Altuve and Josh Reddick both hit it far enough. The smart-ball Astros ran circles around New York inside its ballpark in the seventh inning. Put together all the critical pieces, and it’s 4-1 road team Tuesday and a 2-1 American League Championship Series lead for the Astros.
Remember when Yankee Stadium was a serious October problem for Houston’s professional baseball club? Not in Game 3.
The Astros won Game 2 when Carlos Correa walked it off as the contest’s five-hour mark approached and midnight was ready to strike inside Minute Maid Park. Then they flew north and out-powered and out-pitched the Yankees in New York, again looking like the Fall Classic favorite.
“The most important thing was that we lost (Game 1) but we didn’t give up,” said Altuve, who went 2 for 5 with two runs and tied George Springer for the most playoff homers (12) in team history. “We work hard, and we came up right after the second game — we ended up winning the game in a crazy way, extra innings. And then coming here, we tried to do our game. We’re not trying to do anything different that we do in Houston just because we’re here.”
Since 2015, just being the Astros has often been enough.
New York starter Luis Severino was the instantly shaky one, requiring 36 pitches to escape a bases-loaded first inning after giving up a solo shot to Altuve.
Cole kept staring on-the-road playoff pressure in the face and firing. The best pitcher on the planet turned the biggest stage of his pro career into seven innings, seven strikeouts, 112 pitches and his third postseason win in 2019. Cole still hasn’t lost a game since May 22, which is almost unhuman.
Part robot, part man?
“It’s a lot of what I’ve seen this entire year. He’s exceptional. And he gets better and better and better,” Hinch said. “The beginning of the game, he had a hard time finding his stuff and finding his tempo, his rhythm. He was still getting through his outing, made some really big pitches, had some pressure on him. Then once he found his curveball, it was pretty lights-out. I think he finished his outing as strong as ever.”
Hinch got it right in Game 3. His lineup changes — inserting Reddick and bumping Alex Bregman to the cleanup spot — became win-protecting runs.
The Astros smoked the Yankees in the seventh as a walk, hit-and-run single, fielder’s choice on which Springer extended the out to get runners to second and third, intentional walk, wild pitch and sacrifice fly became two big late runs.
These Astros win with power. They win with aces. They win with walkoffs. They also win with selfless small ball, blending athletic intelligence with precision and speed.
“We’re going there until the ball stops you. When it stops you, you have to give yourself enough time,” Hinch said of Springer’s getting in a rundown when he had no chance to score from third on Michael Brantley’s ball to first. “And fortunately for us, two of our better base runners. And specifically Altuve, one of our fastest base runners at first base, can get to third. Brantley did a great job of following it, so we end the play with second and third, which puts pressure on their dugout as to what you’re going to do with Bregman. George executed it flawlessly, being able to stay at kind of that 45-foot mark and not run into an out. … It was a good play all the way around.”
The Astros were bullpenned into submission by Tampa Bay at Tropicana Field in the AL Division Series. In Game 1 of the ALCS, the Yankees were the powerful 103-win team, while the Astros still looked like the squad that needed the full five to finally beat the Rays.
But Correa’s magical walk-off changed the series, and Hinch’s club regained control in Game 3. Homefield advantage is back in the Astros’ hands. They have four potential games to win two, and Justin Verlander and Cole are set to start again.
“As a team, we like to go over the successes that we have and really try to pass credit around the room, but that’s probably the extent of how much time we spend on it,” said Cole, discussing his perfect 19-0 run. “There’s a lot more work to do, and it’s just too much fun to stay in the moment right now.”
The Astros hadn’t won a playoff game inside Yankee Stadium in four years. In Game 3, they backed their starter, kept attacking and pushed New York into a 2-1 hole.
The Yankees struggled under pressure, leaving nine men on base and going 0 for 6 with runners in scoring position.
The Astros looked like the 107-win Astros again. Inside Yankee Stadium.