Yankees still can’t solve Keuchel in loss to Astros

Itwas a return to the bad old days of the 2015 American League wild-cardgame. Or, really, just about any other time the Yankees have facedHouston’s Dallas Keuchel.The Yankees solved one longtime tormentorin the American League Division Series when they twice beat upCleveland’s Corey Kluber, but Game 1 of the American League ChampionshipSeries showed they still have work to do against Keuchel.Thebearded Astros left-hander has made a career of stumping Yankees hittersand did so again Friday night, pitching seven shutout innings in a 2-1Game 1 victory in front of 43,116 fans at Minute Maid Park.Keuchel,who came in 4-2 with a 1.41 ERA in six career regular-season startsagainst the Yankees, allowed four hits and a walk and struck out 10,joining Mike Scott and Nolan Ryan as the only pitchers in Astros historyto record at least 10 strikeouts in a postseason game.The Yankees,who got a solid outing from Masahiro Tanaka (two runs and four hits insix innings), got a few chances against Keuchel but stranded five andhad a runner, Greg Bird, thrown out at the plate in the fifth to end theinning. They went 1 for 5 with runners in scoring position and strandedseven overall.Keuchel more than resembled the pitcher who routinelydominates the Yankees, including that 2015 wild-card game at theStadium, when he outdueled Tanaka by allowing three hits in six inningsin a 3-0 victory.Chris Devenski replaced Keuchel in the eighth, aninning in which the Yankees got the go-ahead run to the plate. Devenskiwalked Brett Gardner with one out, prompting Astros manager A.J. Hinchto call on closer Ken Giles for a five-out save. With Aaron Judge up,Gardner went to second on a wild pitch. Judge, who was 1 for 20 with16 strikeouts in the ALDS but already, had a hit in ALCS Game 1,grounded to third. Gary Sanchez walked to bring up Didi Gregorius, whosetwo homers off Kluber in ALDS Game 5 led the Yankees to the decidingvictory over the Indians. Giles struck him out swinging at a slider. Giles struck out Starlin Castro and Aaron Hicks to begin theninth. Bird homered to right field, but pinch hitter Jacoby Ellsbury,batting for Matt Holliday, struck out on a nasty slider to end it.TheAstros’ initial hit came with one out in the bottom of the fourth whenJose Altuve, who led the American League in hitting (.346) and had aleague-best 204 hits, reached on an infield single.With CarlosCorrea at the plate, Altuve stole second. Correa then laced a hanging2-and-1 slider to left for an RBI single. Marwin Gonzalez’s groundoutmoved Correa to second and Yuli Gurriel’s ground smash up the middlemade it 2-0.The Yankees nearly cut that deficit in half in thefifth. Bird led off with a single and Altuve booted Holliday’s grounderto second to put runners on first and second with none out. Keuchel gotTodd Frazier to fly to center, struck out Gardner on a nasty 2-and-2slider and got ahead of Judge 1-and-2, but the rookie ripped afull-count slider for a single to left. Third-base coach Joe Espadasent Bird, never to be confused with the fleet-footed on the bases, andhe was nailed at the plate on a perfect throw by Gonzalez to BrianMcCann. In the first, Keuchel struck out Gardner on four pitches but fell behind Judge 3-and-0 before walking him. Keuchel then struck out Sanchez and retired Gregorius on a grounder to second to end the 16-pitch inning.Keuchelretired Castro on a grounder to start the second, then struck out Hickslooking and Bird swinging, making it four strikeouts through two. Gardner got the Yankees’ first hit, slashing a single to left with two outs in the third, but Judge struck out.TheYankees didn’t score in the fourth but did hit Keuchel hard. AfterSanchez struck out looking, Gregorius scalded a grounder on which Altuvemade a diving stop for a 4-3 putout. Castro lashed a single to left andHicks blasted one to dead center, where Springer ran it down at thebase of the wall.Keuchel, who started the sixth at 86 pitches,struck out Sanchez and Gregorius. Correa made a nice pick on Castro’sgrounder, with the 6-3 putout ending the 11-pitch inning.“It just shows you how good of a team we really are,” right fielder Josh Reddick said. “Wecan win the big games where we’re up by a lot, or we’re down by a fewlate, or we’re up by one or two late. It just shows this team has everyaspect covered.”“Tanaka was good again. He was able to confuse us and to control the plate,” Astros centre fielder George Springer said.“If it wasn’t for Dallas, who knows?”