ALCS: Justin Verlander Dominates for Astros in Win Over Yankees

Sure, the Yankees could lose both games started by Verlander and still win the series, but that significantly narrows their margin for error in this showdown between the A.L.’s top two seeds. In their first crack at Verlander, the Yankees held their own but couldn’t quite topple him. He allowed one run and struck out 11 over six innings, paving the way for the Astros’ bats to explode in a 4-2 win.

Verlander started off slowly, but when he departed the game, the score was tied, 1-1. In the bottom half of the sixth inning, though, Astros first baseman Yuli Gurriel and center fielder Chas McCormick each slammed solo home runs off the Yankees right-handed reliever Clarke Schmidt. An inning later, the Astros rookie shortstop Jeremy Peña cracked a solo shot off the right-hander Frankie Montas, who was making his first appearance after returning from a shoulder injury that popped up last month.

But it’s not like the Astros, who are making their sixth straight A.L.C.S. appearance, have a top-heavy rotation. While Verlander may have been the best pitcher in the A.L. this season, the Astros are deep. Only the Los Angeles Dodgers’ rotation had a better E.R.A. (2.75) than the Astros’ (2.95). At least one advanced metric (wins above replacement) rated the Astros’ group better than everyone else’s. Framber Valdez, José Urquidy, Luis García, Cristian Javier and Lance McCullers Jr. each posted an E.R.A. under 3.95 this season.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/19/sports/baseball/yankees-astros-alcs-game-1-score.html