Astros Ace Gets the Upper Hand Against a Yankees Platoon of Arms

The Yankees made heavy investments in their bullpen: The contracts for Aroldis Chapman, Zack Britton and Adam Ottavino all rank among the 10 most lucrative deals for pitchers who were relievers at the time they signed. Those three earn an average of $39.2 million per season, and the Yankees supported them with two other top relievers in Chad Green and Tommy Kahnle.

It was hard to argue with the strategy. The best way to stifle opponents is with strikeouts, and the Yankees were the only team in the majors to have four relievers with at least 11 strikeouts per nine innings (minimum 55 innings pitched) — Chapman, Green, Kahnle and Ottavino. The exception was Britton, whose power sinker is all but impossible for hitters to lift.

“To go to the bullpen early is definitely one of our strengths on the team, and I think Boone has done a great job of utilizing that,” Kahnle said. “He’s just trying any way to get the end goal, which is the W at the end of the day, and being able to use us early in games, it’s not going to really affect us. We’ve been doing it almost all year.”

The risk for the Yankees is that, eventually, the seasoned Houston hitters could benefit from repeated looks at the same relievers. Ottavino, especially, has struggled this postseason: Nine of the 18 hitters he has faced have reached base.

In the seventh inning Tuesday, George Springer walked against Ottavino and bolted for second on a stolen base attempt. As he did, Altuve rolled a single through the right side, leading to a two-run inning helped by familiarity: Ottavino has pitched in all three games of this series, and allowed three singles to Altuve.

“I wouldn’t say it gets easier — it never gets easier — but at least you know how their pitches look and everything,” Altuve said. “To be honest with you, I don’t really like facing Ottavino. I just try to put the ball in play every time I’m facing him.”

Astros General Manager Jeff Luhnow praised the Yankees for having a bullpen so deep in strong arms, adding that the frequent changes can flummox hitters.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/15/sports/baseball/astros-yankee-cole.html?emc=rss&partner=rss