Advertisement

Astros beat Yankees in AL wild-card game

 
Carlos Gomez celebrates his fourth-inning solo home run off Yankees starter Masahiro Tanaka, giving the Astros a 2-0 lead.
Carlos Gomez celebrates his fourth-inning solo home run off Yankees starter Masahiro Tanaka, giving the Astros a 2-0 lead.
Published Oct. 7, 2015

NEW YORK — Dallas Keuchel pitched three-hit ball for six baffling innings, Colby Rasmus and Carlos Gomez homered and the Astros beat the Yankees 3-0 Tuesday night in the American League wild-card game.

Houston advanced to the AL Division Series, where it will face the defending AL champion Royals. Game 1 is Thursday night in Kansas City.

Keuchel pitched 16 scoreless innings against New York in the regular season, and the bearded Cy Young Award candidate was just as tough pitching on three days' rest for the first time in his career. He struck out seven and walked one.

Rasmus sent Masahiro Tanaka's first pitch of the second inning soaring into deep rightfield. Gomez, who had only five plate appearances after missing nearly two weeks with a strained chest muscle in mid September, connected on the first offering of the fourth.

American League hits leader Jose Altuve had an RBI single off reliever Dellin Betances in the seventh.

Luke Gregerson pitched a quick ninth for the save.

New York, whose lefty-heavy lineup struggled against left-handers in September, never had a runner reach third base. Only once were two Yankees on at the same time, but Alex Rodriguez flied out to end the sixth inning.

Lefty-hitting Brett Gardner, who got the start over Jacoby Ellsbury, went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts and a groundout, after which he left the field to a smattering of boos.

It was the Yankees' fifth straight postseason loss. The last time New York won a postseason game was Game 5 of the 2012 ALDS, when CC Sabathia pitched a gem against the Orioles. The Yankees were swept in four games by the Tigers in the ALCS and missed the postseason the following two years.

Ellsbury, signed to a $153 million contract by the Yankees less than two years ago, was left out of New York's starting lineup.

With the left-handed Keuchel starting, Yankees manager Joe Girardi wanted to get right-handed-hitting Chris Young in the starting lineup. Gardner took Ellsbury's spot in centerfield and atop the batting order.