A sellout crowd of 40,857 fans packed Minute Maid Park on Friday night for the Yankees’ first game in Houston since Game 6 of the 2019 ALCS. The majority left disappointed.
Unlike the last time the Yankees visited, the Astros did not save themselves with a late offensive explosion. Houston sputtered out three hits as the top four hitters in the lineup — Jose Altuve, Myles Straw, Michael Brantley and Yuli Gurriel — combined to go 0-for-16. Kyle Tucker (2-for-3) was the only success story at the plate with two doubles; the Astros both times left him out to dry.
The Yankees shut out the Astros, 4-0, in the first contest of a three-game series. The result extended a hapless offensive stretch for the Astros, who have scored two runs in their last 20 innings.
ASTROS INSIDER: Jake Odorizzi finding a groove
Astros starter Jake Odorizzi spared no contact as the Yankees fouled off 23 pitches and boasted an average exit velocity of 92.5 mph on balls in play. He made it through six innings, yielding two runs on seven hits with four strikeouts, before turning the ball over to Bryan Abreu — who surrendered two more runs.
While the Astros struck just two hits and stranded three runners through the first four innings, the Yankees wasted no time making plenty of hard contact against Odorizzi.
In the opening frame, New York hit back-to-back singles with one out. Aaron Judge hammered a 2-1 pitch 104.9 mph off the bat before Gary Sanchez reached on a line drive to left field. The Astros turned a 6-4-3 double play off Giancarlo Stanton’s ground ball to strand two baserunners.
Three of the Yankees’ four hits through the first two innings had exit velocities of more than 100 mph.
Odorizzi retired the side in order in the third inning but got into a bind during a 26-pitch fourth inning. Gleyber Torres was already on base after a one-out single when Rougned Odor sent a ground ball to Altuve, who threw Torres out at second base, but Odor narrowly beat the throw to first base and the Astros were denied a double play. Next, Gio Urshela hit a comebacker off Odorizzi’s glove. The pitcher slid in the grass behind the mound to recover the ball but not in time to make a throw.
The Yankees had two on with two outs when Brett Gardner blasted a full-count fastball down the right-field line for a bases-clearing double, giving the Bronx visitors a 2-0 lead.
With two outs in the bottom of the fifth inning, Robel García walked for the second time to force New York starter Nestor Cortes out of the game. His replacement, Lucas Luetge, kept the next four Houston batters off the bases as Odorizzi retired six straight through the fifth and sixth innings.
Abreu, whom Astros manager Dusty Baker had hailed as “outstanding” after he struck out two batters in two scoreless innings Tuesday against Oakland, struggled in his follow-up performance. The righthander produced one out on a ground ball in the seventh inning before he fell apart at the seams.
Abreu gave up a walk, then a double. Yankees first baseman DJ LeMahieu, who was 0-for-3 on the night versus Odorizzi, worked a 10-pitch at-bat against Abreu and slugged an RBI double to extend the lead to 4-0. After LeMahieu stole third base, Judge hit a sharp ground ball toward third. Abraham Toro made a diving stop but his throw to first base was wide and Gurriel missed Judge with the tag.
The Astros challenged the play at first, the ruling was upheld and Brandon Bielak took the mound with runners on the corners and one out. He coaxed a ground ball from Sanchez and the Astros turned a 6-4-3 double play to avoid further damage.
Tucker launched a fly ball off the center-field wall for his second double of the game in the seventh inning, but his was the only hit Houston managed for the remainder of the evening.
In the top of the ninth, LeMahieu and Judge delivered back-to-back singles with two outs. Bielak stopped the bleeding by striking out Sanchez in three pitches, a feat that by then offered no solace for the Astros.
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July 10, 2021 at 10:59AM
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Yankees blank Astros in series opener - Houston Chronicle
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