Cole stops the New York Yankees at the key moments

The New York Yankees had several shots at Gerrit Cole but failed in all of them as the Houston Astros win 4-1 and take the series lead.

Here’s the scary thing about Gerrit Cole. On a night when he lacked his best stuff, he was still good enough to shut down the New York Yankees in their place.

Plainly Cole was less than his best Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium. He gave up hits to the first two batters he faced, walked five Yankees, and spent most of the game fending off runners in scoring position.

Yet he still shut out the home team for seven innings, enabling his Astros to emerge with a 4-1 victory and a two-games-to-one lead in the American League Championship Series.

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Here were the key moments:

First inning. Both starters found early trouble. Yankee starter Luis Severino gave up a home run to Houston’s second batter, Jose Altuve, then delivered two walks and a hit to load the bases for Carlos Correa. He got Correa to pop out to second.

In the bottom half, D.J. LeMahieu slapped a two-strike pitch up the middle into center field, then Aaron Judge shut the right-side gap created by Houston’s shift for a hit that sent LeMahieu to second. Two harmless fly balls later, Cole walked Gleyber Torres to load the bases, then got Didi Gregorius on a ground ball to second.

Second inning. J.J. Reddick extended Houston’s lead with another home run, this one to right field. Two outs into the bottom half of the inning, Cole was back in trouble when he walked Aaron Hicks and LeMahieu delivered his second hit. That brought up Judge in a spot where a home run would have put New York in front. Cole fanned him on a low-outside slider.

Fourth inning. With two out, Cole walked Gio Urshela and Hicks, giving LeMahieu a chance to follow up on his pair of hits with runners on base. Cole got him on a fly ball to center.

Fifth inning. Yet again with two out, Edwin Encarnacion doubled and Torres walked. That brought up Gregorius, who gave Yankee fans everywhere a brief thrill when he lifted a fly ball toward the inviting right-field seats. It died on the warning track 343 feet away from home plate in Reddick’s glove.

Seventh inning. George Springer reached on a walk and took third on Altuve’s hit. When Michael Brantley bounced to LeMahieu at first, Springer was retired at home, but not before staying in a rundown long enough to allow Altuve and Branley to reach second and third.

That was critical because after the Yanks intentionally walked Alex Bregman, Yuli Gurriel lifted a fly ball deep enough into left to score Altuve. Then with Yordan Alvarez at-bat, Yankee reliever Adam Ottavino buried a pitch in the dirt that catcher Gary Sanchez couldn’t block, allowing Brantley to score his team’s fourth run.

New York scored its only run on Torres’ home run off reliever Joe Smith in the eighth. It might have counted for more had the Yankees not previously gone zero-for-six against Cole with runners in scoring position.