HOUSTON — One night after mustering only two solo home runs against a quartet of dominant Astros pitchers, the New York Yankees needed a pair of errors from Houston starter Framber Valdez to scratch the scoreboard on Thursday in a loss that leaves them facing a steep, uphill climb.
Valdez overcame his defensive miscue and twirled seven strong innings, Alex Bregman socked a three-run home run and the Astros fended off the Yankees 3-2 in Game 2 of the American League Championship Series.
Houston will take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series to the Bronx for Game 3 on Saturday.
Valdez (1-0) allowed two unearned runs on four hits and no walks while recording nine strikeouts. He produced a season-high 25 swings and misses while throwing 101 pitches, 73 for strikes.
The left-hander committed two errors on the same play in the fourth inning, helping the Yankees slice a 3-0 deficit to one run, but he was almost flawless over his final three innings.
After Astros right-handers Justin Verlander, Hector Neris, Rafael Montero and Ryan Pressly combined for 17 strikeouts in the series opener, Yankees batters fanned 13 times against Valdez, Bryan Abreu and Pressly in Game 2.
“The good thing is when we did need the ball in play in a run-scoring situation, we were able to do that,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said, “so take a little bit from that. We got to score. You know … the idea ain’t just to touch it. You got to touch it in situations.
“We got to score. They’re about as tough as there is to score against. But we got to figure out a way and it takes all of us from a game plan standpoint to every guy in that lineup just doing their part to make it a little more difficult on ’em.”
The Yankees’ one display of offensive prowess came in the fourth. After allowing a leadoff single to Aaron Judge, Valdez induced a routine comebacker from Giancarlo Stanton. However, instead of initiating a timely double play and likely maintaining his three-run lead, Valdez stumbled fielding the grounder and then compounded that error by throwing wildly to first base, enabling Judge and Stanton to advance into scoring position with no outs.
The Yankees sliced the deficit to 3-2 without the ball leaving the infield. Judge scored on an RBI groundout from Anthony Rizzo before Gleyber Torres plated Stanton with an infield single to short. Visibly perturbed by his gaffe, Valdez hunkered down and dominated the rest of the way.
Valdez struck out Josh Donaldson and Kyle Higashioka to close the fourth. He retired Judge on a fly ball after Harrison Bader reached on a two-out single in the fifth. Bader was the last batter to reach against Valdez, who struck out the side, all swinging, in the seventh to cap his outing.
“I think in that moment I got a little bit too confident with that ground ball and I didn’t get anybody out,” Valdez said. “Obviously, those two runs scored, but thankfully I was able to get locked in again, get out of that inning and continue pitching and do a good job.”
Bregman staked Houston to the lead with his 360-foot blast to left field off Yankees starter Luis Severino (0-1) in the third, plating Martin Maldonado and Yordan Alvarez. Bregman posted his 14th career postseason homer, the most in major league history for a third baseman.
Severino yielded three runs on five hits and a walk in 5 1/3 innings. He struck out six.
In addition to their stellar pitching, the Astros continue to thrive on offense courtesy of the long ball. Houston bashed three solo home runs in its 4-2 victory on Wednesday. The Astros’ three-game sweep of the Seattle Mariners in the AL Division Series was highlighted by homers from Yuli Gurriel, Bregman and Yordan Alvarez in Game 1, Kyle Tucker and Alvarez in Game 2, and a solo blast from rookie shortstop Jeremy Pena in the top of the 18th inning in the series clincher.
“You hate to live and die by the home run, but you’ll take ’em when you get ’em,” Astros manager Dusty Baker said. “You don’t see many rallies with three or four hits in a row, period. That’s the same way during the regular season. I mean, it’s a different game now.”
–Field Level Media
