Offense Stutters as Astros Take Game One
Five hits by Yanks, Houston’s three homers the difference
The New York Yankees fell to the Houston Astros 4–2 in game one of the ALCS Wednesday.
The offense went quiet as they mustered only five hits, two of them being home runs.
If New York wants to reach the World Series, five hits will not get you there.
“It’s definitely frustrating, but you got to move on,” Aaron Judge said.
Game summary
The Yankees scored first on Harrison Bader’s solo home run in the second inning.
Houston responded with Martín Maldonado’s solo homer in the bottom half.
Jameson Taillon tallied 4.1 innings and allowed a run on four hits, walked three, and struck out none.
Clarke Schmidt replaced Taillon and got a clutch double play to get out of a bases-loaded jam.
But in the sixth, two home runs by Yuli Gurriel and Chas McCormick gave the Astros a 3–1 lead.
Lou Trivino tallied the final two outs of the sixth.
Frankie Montas made his postseason debut with the Yankees in relief and allowed a leadoff home run to Jeremy Peña.
Anthony Rizzo added his solo shot in the eighth to cut the deficit to 4–2, but that’s as close as they would get.
Miguel Castro threw a perfect eighth inning.
Schmidt (0–1) picked up the loss.
Offensive summary
It’s been a theme this postseason, but the offense is home run or bust.
18 of their 22 runs scored in the postseason have been courtesy of the long ball.
When runners are in scoring position with none or one out, the ball has to be put in play to score at least the runner on third base.
Instead, a strikeout kills the threat and forces a base hit to drive in the runs, which they failed to do.
They struck out 17 times to Houston’s two.
Matt Carpenter’s return to the starting lineup went horribly, as he went 0-for-4 with four strikeouts. He struck out in all six at-bats this postseason.
Something needs to change and change quickly.
Pitching summary
Taillon wasn’t terrible, but he wasn’t terrific either.
Three walks are not going to cut it against an Astros team as good as this. He was bailed by some great defensive plays from both Judge and Giancarlo Stanton.
Schmidt couldn’t recreate his fifth-inning magic in the sixth, and it ultimately cost the team.
Overall, holding the Astros to four runs isn’t bad, but the offense left little to be desired in game one.
The pitching had to be absolutely perfect, and they weren’t. But you cannot expect to be flawless against a team of this nature.
Looking ahead
Luis Severino will get the ball and look to even the series when he faces Framber Valdez.
Game two starts at 7:37 p.m. EST on Thursday.
Let’s go Yankees!
