*Photo from SNY*
Houston leads series 3-2
James Paxton dominated, Aaron Hicks homered, and the New York Yankees managed to stay alive in the ALCS with a 4-1 win over the Houston Astros in game 5. The series will now shift to Houston for at least a game 6. Paxton said of his outing that ''I wasn't ready to go home yet, so I wanted to go out and give my team everything I had and just battle away.''
In the top of the first, the Astros took the lead when George Springer scored on a passed ball to make it 1-0. In the bottom of the first, DJ Lemahieu drove the second pitch of the inning into the right field stands to tie it. Hicks then followed with a 3 run homer off the foul pole to make it 4-1 Yankees, and that was all the scoring that took place, all in the first inning.
Paxton went 6 innings for the Yankees, giving up one run on 4 hits and 4 walks. He struck out 9 for his second win of the postseason. Aroldis Chapman got the save in the 9th. Aaron Boone came out to the mound in the 6th, with Paxton over 100 pitches, and simply asked if he could get one more out. Paxton did. Paxton said that ''He just said, `Are you ready? Do you have anything more left in the tank? And I said, Yeah, let's go. I want this.'' The man that Paxton stayed in for, Robinson Chirinos, hit a long flyball to deep left field on the first pitch. Boone said that ''When it first left the bat: Oh, no!" But then Brett Gardner settled under it at the wall to make the catch, and Paxton survived.
Verlander went 7 innings for Houston, giving up 4 runs on 5 hits. He struck out 9 and got his second loss of the postseason. The only reliever Houston used after him was Brad Peacock. Verlander said of his loss that ''Fastball command wasn't very good, and the slider was just hanging." Carlos Correa said of the disappointing loss that ''We've just got to go back home and finish the job." Despite this loss, Houston is in good shape for game 6, as they only used Peacock after Verlander, leaving every reliever fresh.
Game 6 is in Houston on Saturday night, and we will see battle of the bullpens. Boone hasn't announced a starter yet, but Chad Green is an obvious candidate, as he has opened many games for New York this season. Houston manager AJ Hinch has announced that rookie Jose Urquidy will open it up for Houston.
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