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Houston Astros defeat New York Yankees 3-0 in American League Wild Card Game

By Michael Natelli

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Houston Astros. New York Yankees. Two teams that weren’t supposed to be in the postseason, but put together surprising runs to sneak their way into the postseason. Both clubs sat atop their respective divisions for much of the regular seasons, before late-season struggles combined with runs from other clubs bumped them into the two Wild Card spots.

It was Dallas Keuchel vs. Masahiro Tanaka in a battle of aces on Tuesday night, with Keuchel going on three days’ rest. But despite the shortened break between starts, it was the Astros ace that looked in control.

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After pitching a light-out first inning, it appeared that Tanaka was potentially in for a special outing of his own. But things turned around as he worked out of jams on multiple occasions in the following innings. The Yankees ace allowed seven baserunners in five innings of work, walking four batters and giving up two momentum-shifting home runs to Colby Rasmus and Carlos Gomez.

Keuchel, on the other hand, managed 87 pitches on short rest and made every one count. In a mid-game interview with ESPN’s Buster Olney, Houston manager AJ Hinch credited Keuchel with doing a good job of conserving his energy, and he seemed to do just that. In six innings of work, The AL Cy Young Award frontrunner struck out seven Yankee batters while allowing just three hits and a walk. It appeared his night may be over when Hinch paid a visit to the mound in the sixth inning, but Keuchel stayed out to retire Alex Rodriguez with two down and runners on first and second.

For a 27-year-old in making his postseason debut in New York, Keuchel looked at home. As ESPN guest analyst/Rays pitcher Chris Archer pointed out, he got away with mistakes at times, but Keuchel’s performance was hardly a fluke. Tony Sipp, Will Harris and Luke Gregerson (who have one career postseason appearance between the three of them) would come on to pitch three hitless innings in relief to help Houston coast through the final third of the game.

With much being made over $21-million man Jacoby Ellsbury being benched for Tuesday’s game, the Yankees came out showing little fight. While their effort isn’t necessarily being called into question, New York never got to Houston’s pitching enough to mount any sort of rally. Keuchel shot down the Yankees’ one shot in the third inning, and Jose Altuve‘s seventh-inning RBI single off Dellin Betances seemed to kill any fight New York had in them.

The Astros now travel to Kansas City, where they’ll face an Royals team that led the American League in wins during the regular season. Wild Card game winners are 14-12 in LDS Game 1’s in the playoff format MLB has used since 2012, so history is on Houston’s side as they send Scott Kazmir to the hill against Johnny Cueto on Thursday night. Cueto has also posted a 4.76 ERA since coming over to Kansas City at the trade deadline, so a slugging Astros club has the potential to come out of the gates with a big offensive showing in Game 1.

Next: NL Wild Card Preview: Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Jake Arrieta

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