Astros Sweep Yankees, Season Ends in Disappointment
Cortes forced to leave with injury, error proves costly
The New York Yankees’ season has come to an end with a 6–5 defeat Sunday night to the Houston Astros.
Houston will face the Philidelphia Phillies in the World Series.
The game started an hour and a half late due to rain. Nestor Cortes still made his scheduled start but exited in the third inning with a left groin injury.
His velocity was down three mph, and his command was shaky, as half of his pitches thrown were balls, while he only recorded one swing and miss.
He walked back-to-back hitters for the first time all year and paid the price with a home run right before he was pulled.
It forced New York to go to the bullpen early and it was no match in comparison to Houston’s pen.
“It’s an awful day,” manager Aaron Boone said.
“It’s an awful ending.”
Game summary
The Yankees jumped in front early with two runs in the first.
Giancarlo Stanton and Gleyber Torres knocked in RBI singles.
They tacked on another one in the second on Anthony Rizzo’s RBI double.
Cortes allowed a three-run homer to Jeremy Peña to tie the game in the third and was pulled right after.
He allowed three runs on two hits in two-plus innings, walked three, and struck out two.
Wandy Peralta came in and allowed an RBI single to Yuli Gurriel, but settled down after to give the Yankees two solid innings.
Rizzo drove in another run with a single in the fourth to tie the game at four.
Harrison Bader gave New York the lead again in the sixth with a solo home run to left field.
Jonathan Loáisiga was cruising through two innings, but to open the seventh, a crucial error on a botched double play allowed an unearned run to score on Yordan Alvarez’s RBI single.
Alex Bregman gave Houston the winning run with his RBI single soon after.
Clay Holmes threw 2.2 scoreless innings after Loáisiga was pulled with one out in the seventh.
Loáisiga (0–1) picked up the loss.
Series recap
What a brutal way to end a historic season.
The offense was horrific all postseason, but specifically in the ALCS.
The lineup hit .163 in four games, highlighted by a 1-for-16 effort by Aaron Judge, a 1-for-13 effort by Josh Donaldson, and an 0-for-9 showing from Jose Trevino.
The starting pitching was shaky, crafting a 5.40 ERA in the series, but the bullpen was terrific with a 2.10 ERA.
In nine postseason games, the Yankees committed six errors, astronomically high for a team who committed 73 errors in 162 games, which ranked seventh fewest in MLB.
Torres made an errant flip to Isiah Kiner-Falefa, who failed to corral the ball in and led to the tying run scoring on the very next pitch.
The error in Sunday’s game was the turning point in game four and summed up much of the postseason for a club that had aspirations of winning it all.
Looking ahead
It will be a crucial winter for this organization.
Following a historic season, Judge is in line to get paid, but he will test the waters as he is a free agent for the first time in his career.
The Yankees’ number one priority needs to be signing Judge long term and to be a Yankee for life, and possibly the next captain.
Some other things that need to be addressed are the closer role, shortstop, and bullpen management.
Aroldis Chapman was the closer to begin the year but was left off the ALDS and ALCS rosters following a breakthrough with the club. He is a free agent this winter and the Yankees will likely move on.
New York traded for IKF in the offseason for his defense, and the organization praised him all season as the best defensive shortstop in baseball.
But multiple miscues throughout the year and in the postseason say otherwise, as evident by the lineup changes in the division and championship series.
He was benched for the likes of Oswaldo Cabrera and Oswald Peraza multiple times this postseason, sparking questions as to if he’s the answer.
Some options include sticking with IKF, rolling with the young stud in Peraza, or signing a shortstop in free agency.
Trae Turner of the Los Angeles Dodgers is the most lucrative option, but he mainly plays second base and will cost a fortune.
The Yankees front office has not given out big money to position players in more recent years. If the Yankees sign Judge, then Turner will be out of the question.
Finally, the bullpen management by Boone was atrocious all postseason.
Leaving Peralta in too long in game three of the ALDS, using Clarke Schmidt in game one of the ALCS instead of a high-leverage reliever, and going to Lou Trivino instead of Loáisiga in game three of the ALCS are just a handful of the miscues Boone made in the span of a few weeks (not to mention removing your ace in a must-win game three).
Many people have called for Boone to be fired during his tenure as the Yankees’ manager. While it’s highly unlikely he’ll be fired, hopefully, some questions arose from the front office.
It’ll be an interesting offseason, and the Yankees will turn to 2023 for the chase for 28.
Let’s go Yankees!
