ALCS
ALCS: Yankees Behind Sabathia And Bats, Beat Astros 8-1
Yankees looking to stay unbeaten at home in the postseason.
It was deja vu for the Yankees in Game 3 of the ALCS, as they returned home to the Bronx down 2-0 to the Houston Astros. Just over a week ago the Yanks faced the same dilemma against the Cleveland Indians down 2-0 and Game 3 in New York. The result in the ALDS was two straight wins at home and a series clinching victory in Cleveland, advancing to the ALCS.
The Yankees kept to the script with another dominating performance on their home field as they took down the Astros 8-1 in front of 49,373 faithful New York fans.
CC Sabathia took the mound and wasn’t dominate but was good enough to put the Yankees on the path to victory as he tossed six shutout innings, allowing just three hits, walked four batters and struck out five.
On the other side of the field, starter Charlie Morton couldn’t keep the trend of dominating performances as did his teammates Dallas Keuchel and Justin Verlander had from games 1 & 2. Morton struggled allowing seven runs on six hits, walking two batters and recorded three strikeouts. The big blow was a three-run bomb from Todd Frazier in the bottom of the second putting the Yankees up early.
In the fifth inning, New York added a five spot with an RBI single from Chase Headley and an overdo blast off the bat of Aaron Judge, a three run bomb to left field. Judge also made two spectacular plays in the field robbing two hits with a catch that sent him slamming against the right field fence and a diving stop.
The Astros, who looked like the better team in the first two games of the series, are faced with a greater task as they look to Lance McCullers (7-4, 4.25 ERA) to keep the explosive Yankees offense in check. McCullers lats appeared in relief in Game three of the ALDs against the Boston Red Sox and in three inning, gave up two runs, two walks and struck out four batters.
The lone run for Houston came on a bases loaded walk to Alex Bregman scoring Marwin Gonzalez in the top of the ninth off a struggling Dellin Betances, who has walked four batters and not recorded an out in his last two relief appearances.
The Yankees will counter with Sonny Gray (10-12, 3.55 ERA), who also struggled in his last start against the Indians in Game one of the ALDS, allowing three runs on three hits, with four walks and two strikeouts in just 3.1 innings.
This will be a pivotal game for both teams as the ‘Stros looking to take a commanding 3-1 lead and the Yankees hope to even the series at 2-2.
Can the Yankees keep the momentum on their side, or will the Astros get back on the winning side? Stay Tuned….
David Conde
David is the Co-Founder and Executive Editor of Legends On Deck®, as well as a Co-Host on Legends On Deck Podcast. David was a Senior Editor for MetsMerizedOnline.com, MetsMinors.net and Contributor for Hardballchat.com that spanned from 2010 to 2014. David made his MLB Debut as a writer in June 2014, while covering the NY Mets at Citi Field, for MetsmerizedOnline.com. David also coaches baseball for ages 13-15, a Babe Ruth League team in his local community. David's passion is coaching the game he loves to the future Legends of Tomorrow as well as making available a website that people can have fun sharing and reading. David is also passionate about his career as a Mortgage Loan Officer which allows him to help many families reach their dreams of owning a home. Connect with David via his Social Media pages as he loves to chat all about baseball.
