The New York Yankees are one and done in 2015. On Tuesday night, they fell 3-0 to a game Houston Astros side at Yankee Stadium, marking the third straight season the team has gone without a playoff win.
But the Yankees weren’t the story on Tuesday night – the Astros pitching staff was the story. Houston won their first playoff game since the 2005 NLCS by outpitching the Yankees. Dallas Keuchel got the start on three days rest for Houston and allowed just three singles in six shutout innings, walking one and striking out seven. New York only got two runners to second base all game, and didn’t get one runner over to third.
Masahiro Tanaka struggled overall for the Yankees, but he gave the team a chance to win. In five innings, Tanaka allowed two runs on four hits, striking out three and walking three.
The Astros offense gave Keuchel an early cushion thanks to a long second inning homer by Colby Rasmus off of Masahiro Tanaka.
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However, the Astros missed an opportunity to do more damage, leaving the bases loaded to end the frame. They squandered a leadoff double by George Springer in the third, but Carlos Gomez, dealing with a pulled muscle in his ribcage doubled the lead to lead off the fourth inning with a solo homer.
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That would be more than enough for a game Keuchel, who set ten Yankees down in a row in the game’s middle innings. But in the sixth, the Yankees had their best opportunity of the night. Didi Gregorius led off with a single, and after a strikeout and fielder’s choice, Carlos Beltran singled to put two men on with two out for Alex Rodriguez. Keuchel talked his way into staying in the game, and immediately forced Rodriguez to fly out to end the inning.
In the seventh, Houston manufactured a third run. Dellin Betances walked Chris Carter with one out, and pinch runner Jonathan Villar stole second as Jason Castro struck out for the second out of the frame. Jose Altuve followed up the stolen base by pulling a single into right field, scoring Villar and putting the game out of reach.
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In the final third of the game, just one Yankee reached base – Chase Headley was walked by Tony Sipp with one out in the seventh. But he was stranded on first base as the final eight New York hitters of the evening were set down in order, with just one of those eight Yankee hitters knocking the ball out of the infield.
Next up for the Astros in the AL Division Series are the defending AL champion Kansas City Royals. Yordano Ventura awaits in Thursday’s Game 1 at 7:37 PM.
