YANKEES TAKE LEAD
N.Y. beats Houston in Game 5
NEW YORK» The Houston Astros will be happy to get home after a three-day bashing in the Bronx that left Jose Altuve flinging his bat and Josh Reddick slamming his helmet.
Not even Dallas Keuchel could prevent New York from sweeping three games at Yankee Stadium and returning to Texas with a 3-2 lead in the AL Championship Series. Game 6 is Friday night.
Houston’s pair of 2-1 wins at the Juice Box last weekend were distant memories after three days unsuccessfully fending off New York’s noisy bats and fans. The Astros’ Big Apple experience was about the same as the tourist couple in “The Out of Towners.”
“It’s a tough environment. These people love their Yankees,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said before Wednesday night’s 5-0 loss. “They’re smart with how they try to get loud and put pressure on the players.”
The Yankees took the New York portion of the series in straight sets, outscoring Houston 19-5 and outhitting the Astros 25-11. Just one of the Astros’ last 15 batters reached base in Game 5.
Keuchel had pitched 13 scoreless innings against the Yankees in postseason play, including seven to win the opener. The bushy bearded ace was 6-2 against New York, never allowing more than three runs.
But those precise pitches were a smidgeon off as Greg Bird, Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez and Didi Gregorius had run-scoring hits to chase him after 4M innings. It was Keuchel’s shortest outing since finding his groove in August after struggling in his return from a neck injury.
Alex Bregman’s glove was about an inch short of snagging Judge’s 94 mph smash down the third-base line, which put the Yankees ahead 2-0 in the third.
Houston led the major leagues with a .282 average and 896 runs during the regular season. But the Astros have just nine runs in the ALCS and are batting .147. Houston is hitting .077 (3-for-39) the first time through the batting order and .148 (4-for-27) with runners in scoring position after going 0for-8 RISP in Game 5.