*Photo from the Times Leader*
What a day it was for the Houston Astros, even in enemy territory. JJ Matijevic homered, Jose Altuve added a homer, and the Astros defeated the New York Yankees with a 3-0 victory on Saturday afternoon in New York.
In the win, 3 different Houston pitchers combined to no-hit the Yankees at their own stadium, striking out 15 hitters in the process. The last team to no-hit the Yankees was also the Astros, who combined to no-hit the Yankees on June 11, 2003, at the old Yankee stadium.
Astros closer Ryan Pressly said of the combined no-hitter that "A no-hitter is pretty special either way, anywhere you do it. The fact that it was here in Yankee Stadium, that’s a really good lineup over there. Those are some good hitters. It’s special, but I think if you throw a no-hitter, in general, it’s going to be special."
With the win, the Astros also kept their recent hot streak going. After losing on Thursday, the Astros have won two straight games, in addition to 8 wins in their last 10 games. They improved their record to 45-26 on the season, and continue to put a stranglehold on first place in the AL West.
Starting the scoring for the Astros was Matijevic, who broke the scoreless 0-0 tie in the 7th inning. Matijevic hit a towering solo home run, getting into the second deck to put the Astros ahead by a 1-0 score near the end of the game.
As the game got closer to the end, the Astros kept adding runs. One inning after Matijevic, Altuve added a solo homer of his own, sending one out to left field to double the Astros lead to 2-0. In the 9th inning, Kyle Tucker scored on an RBI single by Yuli Gurriel, which made the Astros lead 3-0, which was all the pitching staff needed.
Getting the win and the first 7 innings of the no-hitter was Cristian Javier, who left with over 100 pitches. Javier struck out 13 Yankee hitters, allowing just one walk. Hector Neris handled the 8th inning, walking two hitters but keeping the no-no intact. Pressly then took care of the 9th, striking out two of the 3 hitters he faced, forcing a groundout after that to seal the no-hitter.
Astros manager Dusty Baker said of Javier that "The whole thing of pitching is about control, control, control. Everybody talks about velocity all the time, but velocity without command and control is no good. He was getting ahead of some real good hitters over there. That’s a day he’ll never forget, and us either."
Starting opposite Javier for the Yankees was Gerrit Cole, who just made one more mistake. Cole allowed one run on 4 hits over 7 innings, striking out 8 hitters. Michael King allowed one run in one inning of work, as did Lucas Luetge.
Yankees infielder Josh Donaldson said of being no-hit that "It’s shocking. We have a really good lineup. Being no-hit doesn’t feel good, but we feel good about our team. We’ll look back tomorrow, make some adjustments and be ready to go."
Up next, the Astros and Yankees conclude their series on Sunday afternoon. The Astros look for the series win with Jose Urquidy getting the start, while Nestor Cortes starts for the Yankees.
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