Astros: Houston, we have a problem

Gleyber Torres drives in five runs and Masahiro Tanaka delivers six shutout innings in Yankees’ 7-0 Game One win over the Houston Astros.

Saturday night, the New York Yankees blanked the Houston Astros 7-0 because Masahiro Tanaka pitched and because Gleyber Torres played. The second-year infielder went three-for-five with a double and a homer, driving in five of the Yanks’ seven runs.

Tanaka, who was 11-9 during the regular season, blanked the 107-win Astros on a single hit through six innings.

Here is a recap of the key moments in the Yank’s opening win.

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Third inning. The Astros are a powerful team, but in their first opportunity to manipulate themselves into a runoff Tanaka they failed miserably. After Kyle Tucker lined a one-out single into right field, Robinson Chirinos came up and stared into the teeth of a full-out Yankee shift daring him to go the other way. On a 2-2 pitch, Tanaka double-dared him, throwing a slider low and away …perfect to slap behind a breaking runner.

That, however, is not the Astros’ style. Instead, Chirinos tried to pull the pitch, rolled over and slapped an easy double-play ground ball to third baseman Gio Urshela.  Instant rally-killer.

Fourth inning. After D.J. LeMahieu singled, Zack Greinke got two strikes on Aaron Judge and then tried to get him out tight. The pitch sailed toward Judge’s chest, somehow missing him but also missing Chirinos’ glove for a wild pitch. Judge struck out, but with LeMahieu in scoring position, Torres came up next and doubled to drive him home with the game’s first run.

Fifth inning. Not that Tanaka needed much help, but in the fifth Houston’s best player undermined his own team’s efforts. Alex Bregman opened by drawing a base on balls on a 3-2 pitch, then – representing the tying run — took off as Yordan Alvarez cranked a line fly to right. But Bregman was too late in recognizing that Alvarez’s shot wasn’t sinking; Aaron Judge easily ran under it and then doubled Bregman off first by several feet.

Sixth inning. It was still 1-0 when Torres got another shot at Greinke with one out in the sixth inning. He got a gut-high fastball over the fat part of the plate and shot it into the Crawford boxes. The next batter, Giancarlo Stanton, worked the count to 3-2, then shot a four-seamer over the outer part of the plate into the seats in right.

Seventh inning. Ryan Pressly replaced Greinke to start the inning and retired the first two batters without incident. But when Didi Gregorius, D.J. LeMahieu and Aaron Judge strung consecutive singles into right field, Torres got another chance to do damage. This time he produced a mere single, but it scored Gregorius and LeMahieu as well to make the lead 5-0. Given the way Tanaka was stifling the Houston Astros, Torres’ third hit essentially put the game out of reach.

All game. Was this Tanaka’s best start of the season? Tucker’s third-inning single was the only hit he allowed, and Bregman’s fifth-inning walk was the only other baserunner.

New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone lifted him after only 68 pitches both out of respect for his own bullpen and to save Tanaka for possible future use.

Statistically, Tanaka’s best game of the season was probably the one he pitched against the Tampa Bay Rays June 17 in New York. It was a 3-0 complete game shutout in which he held the Rays to two hits and one walk.