Tanaka and Yankees Dominate on All Forces, Take Series Lead
Photo Via: Bleacher Report
One. Game Away. Is the amount of wins the Yankees need to get to the World Series. Tanaka pitched a gem and the offense dominated on all cylinders as the Yankees beat the Astros 5-0 on Wednesday night.
Most people figured this Game 5 would be a pitcher’s duel between the Astros Dallas Kuechel and Yankees Masahiro Tanaka. Those most people, thought wrong. The Yankees rocked Dallas Keuchel, while Tanaka shutout the Astros.
The Yankees broke out with two outs in the second when Castro doubled and Bird ripped a single down the right field line to score. Gregorius grounded an RBI single up the middle that grazed the glove of diving second baseman Jose Altuve. That ended the night for Keuchel and gave the Yankees a 4-0 cushion, the most runs he had ever allowed against them. Gary Sanchez hit an RBI single off of Dallas Keuchel and would later hit moonshot homer to push the Yankees to Game 6. Aaron Judge, Didi Gregorius and Greg Bird all delivered clutch hits to hand the Astros their third straight loss in the postseason.
The Yankees knew, that if they were going to win the series, they had to beat Verlander or Keuchel at least once, both Cy Young winners. Now that they have done it, the Yankees can’t take the pedal off the gas.
The pitching by New York in this series and the entire postseason has been amazing, all you could ask for in a bullpen and a rotation. Let me remind you that Houston is the highest scoring team in the majors batting, but this series has been held to just batting .147; mostly due to Tanaka’s pitching. Tanaka also beat the Indians 1-0 in the Division Series to save the Yankees' season when they were down 0-2 in that best-of-five playoff. After going 13-12 with a 4.74 ERA during an inconsistent season, he has a 0.90 ERA in three playoff starts.
The Yankees extend their amazing home stretch of wins to 19 out of 22 at Yankee Stadium (Including Postseason).
Verlander is the Yankees next test, who is 8-0 since joining Houston on August 31st and 3-0 with a 2.04ERA in the playoffs. Severino gets the start for the Yankees in Game 6 who is looking to match his last start and shutdown the Astros. Game 6 is Friday in Houston, first pitch at 8:08PM on FS1.
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By Jake Martino
