HOUSTON – Gleyber Torres kept up his October surge with a homer and five RBIs, Masahiro Tanaka polished his playoff résumé and the New York Yankees blanked the Houston Astros 7-0 Saturday night in the AL Championship Series opener.
With so much attention focused on the Astros aces, Tanaka showed he more than belonged on this stage, too. He threw one-hit ball for six innings to outpitch Zack Greinke, improving to 5-2 with a 1.32 ERA in the postseason.
Torres did his part in this matchup of 100-win behemoths with a go-ahead double, a solo homer, a two-run single and an RBI grounder. Moved up to third in the batting order after mashing in a sweep of Minnesota, the 22-year-old star became the youngest AL player to drive in five runs during a postseason game.
Asked whether he was surprised at all he’s been able to do at his age, Torres was direct.
“I mean, not really,” he said. “Prepare really well to be here and help my team. So now I got opportunity.”
Giancarlo Stanton and Gio Urshela also homered and right fielder Aaron Judge turned in the key play, catching a line drive and doubling Alex Bregman off first base when it was still 1-0.
“Loved our look today,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said.
New York will try to build on its early momentum when James Paxton starts against 21-game winner Justin Verlander in Game 2 on Sunday night.
Houston hardly looked like a club that led the majors with a franchise-record 107 victories. Jose Altuve, Bregman and their teammates were held to three singles.
The Astros had homered in 30 straight games — every game since Aug. 31 — and their streak was the second-longest in major league history behind a 31-game string by the Yankees this year.
Greinke, acquired at the trade deadline for these kind of moments, produced another lackluster playoff start.
“The Yankees, they can come at you in a lot of different ways,” Houston manager AJ Hinch said.
Tanaka, who won Game 1 of the ALDS, struck out four and walked one. He faced the minimum through six innings thanks to a pair of double plays. Three relievers finished up the shutout.
“Obviously the number’s there and I guess I’m flattered. But the happiest thing for me is us being able to get the W,” Tanaka said through a translator.
Torres picked up right where he left off in the division series where he hit .417 to lead the team — he batted sixth in those games, but was moved higher as Boone tinkered with his lineup to break up the team’s lefty hitters.
Torres put the Yankees out front with an RBI double in the fourth.
There was one out in the sixth when he hit a fastball from Greinke into the seats in left field. Greinke knew it was gone off the bat, and pounded his fist into his glove as soon as Torres left the batter’s box.
Torres singled in the seventh to make it 5-0. He has an RBI in all four of New York’s playoff games this year.
“He likes playing these situations and he’s confident in his ability to produce. And that leads to a dangerous player,” Boone said.
Stanton homered with two outs in the sixth.
Urshela added a solo homer on rookie Bryan Abreu’s first pitch of the postseason to pad the lead in the ninth. Torres drove in another run with a groundout later in the inning.
New York led 1-0 when Bregman drew a leadoff walk in the fifth. Yordan Alvarez followed with a drive that Judge caught on run, and he made a strong throw that first baseman DJ LeMahieu scooped for the double play. Bregman stumbled a bit trying to get back and was nabbed.
Nationals 3, Cardinals 1
In St. Louis, Max Scherzer followed Anibal Sanchez’s near no-hitter with a try of his own as Washington beat the hosts for a 2-0 lead in the NL Championship Series.
“We really want to win here,” the hard-charging Scherzer said. “So that’s what’s going to happen, we’re going to compete and win.”
Scherzer didn’t allow a hit until Paul Goldschmidt led off the seventh inning with a single that left fielder Juan Soto played conservatively with a 1-0 lead. A day earlier, Sanchez held the Cardinals hitless until Jose Martinez had a pinch-hit single with two down in the eighth.
Sanchez and Scherzer also began the 2013 ALCS with consecutive no-hit bids of at least five innings for Detroit against Boston. They are the only pitchers to accomplish the feat in postseason history.
“The way he can change speeds and execute pitches, it’s a treat to really watch and get to pitch with him,” Scherzer said. “For me, I’m just in the moment. I’m not trying to do anything great, I’m just trying to stick within my game.”
Scherzer, a St. Louis native who played college ball for the University of Missouri, struck out 11 and walked two in seven innings.
It doesn’t get any easier for the Cardinals, either. Ace Stephen Strasburg gets the ball for the wild-card Nationals when the best-of-seven series moves to Washington for Game 3 on Monday night. Jack Flaherty pitches for the Cards.
“They have a pretty strong advantage right now,” Cardinals right-hander Adam Wainwright said.
“I’ve got a lot of confidence in our hitters. I think our hitters are going to do something special in Washington.”
St. Louis got another solid performance from Wainwright, who struck out 11 in 7⅓ innings.
But after getting only one hit in the opener, the Cardinals’ inconsistent lineup managed just three hits against Scherzer and the Washington bullpen.
“We trust in each other. We’ve been in this position before,” Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina said. “We just have to figure out how to get better.”
The NL Central champions got their first run of the series when center fielder Michael A. Taylor misplayed Martinez’s pinch-hit liner into an RBI double with two outs in the eighth. But Dexter Fowler flied out on Sean Doolittle’s next pitch on a tough day to see the ball with the shadows from the mid-afternoon start.
Patrick Corbin got the first out of the ninth before Daniel Hudson earned his third save of the playoffs.
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Source : Baseball – The Japan Times