*Photo from the Houston Chronicle*
Houston wins series 4-2
One swing, complete mayhem. Jose Altuve homered off Aroldis Chapman in the 9th inning to send the Houston Astros to the World Series with a 6-4 win over the New York Yankees in one of the best moments in Astros team history. General manager Jeff Luhnow went farther, saying that "that's one of the best moments in postseason history." The Astros clinched their second AL pennant in 3 years with Altuve's missile missile off Chapman.
The Astros got the party started early as well. In the first inning, Yuli Gurriel broke out of his slump with a 3 run homer into the Crawford Boxes to give Houston a 3-0 lead early. In the second, the Yanks got on the board with a Gary Sanchez RBI single. In the 4th, they trimmed the lead when Gio Urshela hit a solo homer to right field. In the 6th, the Astros made it 4-2 on Alex Bregman's grounder that scored Altuve. In the 9th, DJ Lemahieu shocked Houston with a game tying two run homer. In the bottom half, Altuve stepped up, ripped the ball, and chaos ensued.
Brad Peacock was the opener for Houston, and he gave them 1 2/3 innings to start. Jose Urquidy gave Houston 2 2/3 innings in the middle of the game, which were very important innings. Roberto Osuna got the win for Houston. The Astros used 7 pitchers in the bullpen game. Altuve's homer gave him the honor of ALCS MVP. After Lemahieu's game tying homer, Altuve wouldn't let game 6 get away from Houston. Manager AJ Hinch said of Altuve that "I get asked to describe Jose Altuve all the time, I think MVP is what he is." Houston's two wins at home this ALCS have both been walkoffs, with Carlos Correa hitting a walkoff homer in game two.
Chad Green opened things up for the Yankees, and he gave up 3 runs on 2 hits and a walk over one inning. The Yankees also used 7 pitches, with JA Happ and Luis Cessa each pitching two innings, the longest by a Yankee pitcher in game 6. Chapman took the loss, as he gave up Altuve's homer. In the last 5 years, the Yanks have been eliminated by the Astros in the 2015 wild card game, the 2017 ALCS, and this ALCS. Aaron Boone said that "I feel like we are on equal footing with them, unfortunately, sports can be a little cruel for the team that goes home."
If this series had gone to a game 7, Gerrit Cole would've started for Houston. Instead, he is in line to start game one of the world series against the Washington Nationals, which starts on Tuesday in Houston. The Astros will go for their second World Series title in 3 years starting on Tuesday.
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