Winning streaks are coveted events in any sport and often hard to come by. The Houston Astros only had three during the regular season, which lasted six games or longer, and all these teams involved like the Detroit Tigers, Oakland Athletics, Kansas City Royals and Boston Red Sox – the dregs of the big leagues.
The playoffs are set to be more challenging, with the best competition from both leagues. But the Astros built another impressive streak in the postseason by winning their first six games. They went unbeaten in the playoffs with a 5-0 win over the Yankees in Game 3 of the American League Championship Series at Yankee Stadium on Saturday.
With their impressive pitching team and deep, experienced lineup, the Astros simply overwhelm the Yankees, just as they did with the Seattle Mariners in their three-game sweep in this divisional series.
Can any of the remaining three teams beat the Astros in a game, let alone a series?
The Yankees will ask Nestor Cortes, their popular starting pitcher, to answer that question when he takes the ball for Game 4 against the Astros’ Lance McCullers Jr. on Sunday night.
Only one team in postseason baseball history has come back from a 3-0 deficit, the Boston Red Sox, who made it in the 2004 ALCS against the Yankees. At least the Yankees know it’s possible.
But they will have to completely reverse their fate. They hit 30 times in their first two games and things got worse at Yankee Stadium as they only managed three in Game 3. During the regular season, they won 99 games, relying heavily on home runs, and at times in early summer, looking like the best team in baseball, Yankee Stadium hosted nightly victory celebrations. But those happy feelings were replaced by frustration and boos.
With their team’s season on the brink, disappointed fans booed the Yankees several times Saturday. Even Aaron Judge, the baseball darling who set an American League record for 62 homers that year, was mocked when he hit in the sixth inning.
“The playoffs are tough, man,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said before the game. “And we’re dealing with probably the best pitching team at the moment. So there will be some bumps.”
The Astros opened the scoring in the second inning when Chas McCormick, their No. 9, hit a two-run home run ahead of Yankees ace Gerrit Cole. McCormick might not have even gone batting in the innings if the Yankees hadn’t made a mistake in the outfield.
With two outs, Christian Vázquez lifted a routine flyball to right center. Both Harrison Bader and Aaron Judge converged on it, and Bader dropped it. Vázquez was so unaware of the slip that after stepping onto first base, he turned back to the Astros dugout and took several steps before realizing the ball had landed safely and he had to climb back to base .
It should have been the final of the innings. Instead, McCormick laced up a line drive to the right that barely crossed the fence, and a collective groan went through the stadium.
Cole suppressed any irritation and set down the next six batters he faced, not allowing another batter until Jose Altuve doubled with an out in the fifth. It was Altuve’s first hit of the postseason after going 0 for 25, a record for a postseason start. But Cole pinned him in second by getting Jeremy Peña to fold and then knocked out Yordan Alvarez to end the inning.
But in the sixth, the Astros loaded bases with no out and Boone removed Cole, who had pitched 96 and looked tired, in favor of right-hander Lou Trivino. Trey Mancini drove home a run with a sacrifice fly and Vázquez hit to the left and scored two more. All five runs taken were credited to the seven, eight and nine batsmen.
If the Yankees haven’t subconsciously given up yet, Game 4 offers an intriguing duel. McCullers was originally scheduled to start Game 3 but sustained an unusual injury during the Astros victory celebration in Seattle a week ago. In the middle of the clubhouse party after Houston’s streak-winning win over the Mariners, someone accidentally hit McCullers on the right elbow with a bottle of champagne.
McCullers respectfully declined to say who brandished the offending bottle, but said there was a minor cut and swelling. The team decided to give him an extra day off, particularly because McCullers had Tommy John surgery on the same elbow in 2018.
“I’m confident,” Astros manager Dusty Baker said before Game 3 on Saturday. “I saw him throw yesterday. He throws the ball well. It looked like nothing. It looked like he was 100 percent.”
McCullers, who has a 2.56 earned running average in 17 postseason career games, meets Cortes, who takes the ball in a desperate situation. Most recently, he played in Game 5 of the Yankees division series against the Cleveland Guardians at Yankee Stadium on October 18, allowing just one run and three hits in five innings. But that was Cleveland, not the Astros, who have appeared in the ALCS for six straight years.
With another win over the Yankees, the Astros will play in their second straight World Series and right now nobody seems able to stop them.