*Photo from the Houston Chronicle*
Houston wins series 4-0
They asked for Houston in New York. Boy, did they ever get Houston. Jeremy Pena homered, Alex Bregman drove in the game winning run, and the Houston Astros rallied to defeat the New York Yankees with a 6-5 victory on Sunday night in the Bronx.
Through two series this postseason, the Astros are still undefeated. They are 7-0 this October, making quick work of the Seattle Mariners and now the Yankees. They shook off a 3 run deficit early and a one run deficit late, winning the deciding game to advance to their 4th World Series in the past 6 seasons, looking to win their second.
One big reason for the Astros success this postseason has been the play of the rookie Pena. After his homer sealed the ALDS sweep against the Mariners, he homered in game 4 on Sunday. He took home ALCS MVP honors with a .353 batting average with a 1.176 OPS in 4 games, with two homers.
Asked about advancing to the World Series, Pena said that "It's surreal. You dream about this stuff when you're a kid, and shout-out to my teammates. We show up every single day. We stayed true to ourselves all year. We're a step away from the ultimate goal."
The Yankees got on the board quick in the first inning, with RBI singles from Giancarlo Stanton and Gleyber Torres making it 2-0. Anthony Rizzo hit an RBI double in the second to make the lead 3-0. In the 3rd inning, Pena tied the game with a 3 run home run, and Yuli Gurriel followed that up with an RBI single to give the Astros a 4-3 lead.
One inning later, Rizzo delivered again, tying the game 4-4 with an RBI single to center field. In the 6th inning, Harrison Bader broke the ice with a go ahead solo home run to put the Yankees ahead 5-4. In the 7th, Yordan Alvarez tied the game back up with an RBI single, before another RBI single from Bregman put the Astros ahead for good.
Houston manager Dusty Baker said of winning the pennant that "It's a long road to get here. There's a lot that happens in the months to get here from Spring Training. It means that we persevered and we stayed together, and we made the necessary trades when we had to try to strengthen certain parts of our team. These guys are a very close-knit bunch of guys."
Starting the clincher for the Astros was Lance McCullers Jr. He didn't have his best stuff, as he was charged with 4 runs in 5 innings, but it was enough to keep the Astros in it. Hector Neris allowed a run before Bryan Abreu, Rafael Montero, and Ryan Pressly locked down the series win in sweep fashion.
The Yankees sent Nestor Cortes to the mound, and he allowed 3 runs while lasting just 2+ innings before leaving injured. Wandy Peralta allowed one run in two innings, while Jonathan Loaisiga was charged with two runs in 2 1/3 innings. Clay Holmes pitched the final 2 2/3 innings of the game.
Yankees starting pitcher Gerrit Cole reflected on the season, saying that "There's a lot of things to be proud of. Realistically, with the rest of the league, we’re probably right up there towards the top. But they beat us in every facet. I watched the series and I didn’t really see an area where we played better than them."
Up next, the Astros advance to the World Series, with game one on Friday night. The Yankees enter the offseason with Aaron Judge as the key free agent, with Rizzo being another candidate to hit free agency as well, contingent on if he exercises his opt out.
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