Cole isn’t great, but just good enough
NEW YORK — Far from his best, Gerrit Cole was still unbeatable.
A gritty Cole held the New York Yankees scoreless without his sharpest stuff, Jose Altuve sparked Houston at the plate and the Astros locked down a 41 victory Tuesday to take a 21 lead in the AL Championship Series.
Altuve and Josh Reddick homered early off Luis Severino, who labored into the fifth while keeping the Yankees close. But they never broke through against Cole, who grinded through seven innings to win his 19th straight decision despite walking five batters.
“Just boiled down to making some good pitches under pressure,” he said.
Cole pitched out of a basesloaded jam in the first and stranded nine runners through five, improving to 30 with a 0.40 ERA in three outings this postseason. Poised to be a prized free agent this fall who could command more than $200 million, his dominant run is beginning to rival some of baseball’s greatest October pitching performances.
The 29yearold righthander, unbeaten in 25 starts since his last loss on May 22, allowed four hits and struck out seven.
Game 4 is scheduled for Wednesday night, but that could change. The gloomy weather forecast calls for a substantial storm with steady to heavy rain.
Gleyber Torres homered in the eighth off Houston reliever Joe Smith, one batter after replay umpires reversed a call and ruled Edwin Encarnacion out at first base. That led to a little trash and a ball thrown onto the field.
Roberto Osuna got three quick outs in the ninth for a save.
After rolling to a 70 victory in the series opener, the Yankees — the highestscoring team in the majors this season — have totaled three runs in the past 20 innings.
With two on in the fifth and the Yankees trailing 20, Didi Gregorius flied out to Reddick at the right field fence. Cole found his rhythm after that, retiring his last seven batters.
Houston got a rally going in the seventh against scuffling reliever Adam Ottavino. George Springer walked and went to third when Altuve, who homered on Severino’s third pitch, executed a perfect runandhit single through the right side.
After savvy baserunning by Springer to stay in a rundown long enough to get runners to second and third, one run scored on a wild pitch by Zack Britton. Yuli Gurriel made it 40 with a sacrifice fly.
Mike Fitzgerald is an Associated Press writer.