New York Yankees vs. Houston Astros Game 4 ALCS Recap

Here we are again.  The Yankees were down 2-0, come home to play back-to-back games in the Bronx, and the series is now knotted at 2.  For some reason the Yankees develop that killer instinct in Yankee Stadium.  Soon to be AL MVP, Aaron Judge, had his best game this postseason going 2-3 with a key 2-out RBI Double in the bottom of the 8th, and an absolute moonshot to center in the 7th going 427 ft to dead center.  The huge hit came with 2 outs in the 8th from the Kraken, Gary Sanchez, with a 2-run Double to give the Yankees the lead in the 8th.  Starting pitching on both sides was absolutely fantastic. Both guys hadn’t pitched in more than 12 days and they both gave great performances.  Sonny Gray went 5 innings of 1 hit baseball allowing 2 runs (1 earned) and striking out 4.  Lance McCullers Jr. pitched phenomenal for the Astros allowing 2 hits over 6 innings and just 1 ER off of the Judge Homer.  

Aside from the pitching, the Astros finally scored more than 2 runs this series and leaned on their pitching to carry them to the finish line.  You can ask them how that has been working out for them lately.  Their bullpen was an absolute horror show and ruined a great pitching performance from the young McCullers Jr.  They pitched like shit and allowed 5 Runs in just 2 innings of pitching between 4 different pitchers.  The Astros offense was carried by one big hit, a bases loaded double, which scored 3 from Yuli Gurriel.  I know the score says 6-4 but the Astros only put together 3 hits in this entire game and only had 6 guys actually reach first base.  That is absolutely piss poor and sad from a team that dismantled the AL East champion Red Sox.  

The Yankees have done everything right the last 2 games and most notably they only had 3 Strikeouts from batters in this game, which is really good to see the team put the ball in play.  Aside from that, they have to clean up their fielding.  They were lucky to escape with this win because their fielding looked like a Little League baseball team making 3 errors in Game 4.  At least one thing the Yankees can absolutely count on is their bullpen.  When Girardi took the ball from Gray and handed it to Robertson, you knew the bullpen would do their job.  They got big innings from Chad Greene, David Robertson, and Aroldis Chapman. who eventually picked up the save tonight.  The Cuban Missile has thrown absolute piss rockets past batters in the 9th and striking out 2 of the 3 batters he faced in the 9th.  This bullpen is no joke and is easily the best in baseball this season.  Game 5 kicks off in the Bronx at 5:08pm today, and it’s a big game for both teams.  I think whoever wins this game will take the series, and it’s more important for the Yankees to win this game because they will have to play Game 6 and possibly Game 7 in Houston, so going up 3-2 heading into Minute Maid Park is important.

Written by Nick Kazandjian