Houston: Dallas Keuchel delivered 10 strikeouts in seven shutout innings as the Houston Astros edged the New York Yankees 2-1 in the opening game of their Major League Baseball play-off series.
Astros manager A.J. Hinch had no worries going with Keuchel as his starting pitcher in game one of the AL Championship Series as the left-hander has owned the Yankees in seven career starts against them.
Keuchel continued that mastery on Friday giving up just four hits and walking one in front of a crowd of 43,100 at Minute Maid Park.
He is also the third pitcher in franchise history to record a double-digit strikeout game in the playoffs, joining Nolan Ryan and Mike Scott who did it in games one and five of the 1986 NL Championship Series.
After tossing 97 pitches through six innings, Keuchel returned for the seventh and vanquished the Yankees in order.
He retired the final six batters he faced and improved to 6-2 overall with a 1.09 ERA against the Yankees, including a pair of playoff victories. Keuchel worked six scoreless innings while pitching Houston to a 3-0 win in the 2015 AL Wild Card Game at Yankee Stadium.
New York’s starter Masahiro Tanaka, of Japan, worked six strong innings, allowing four hits and one walk with three strikeouts but he couldn’t match Keuchel’s magic.
The Astros mustered all the offence they would need in the fourth inning. Jose Altuve delivered the first hit of the game off right-hander Tanaka with a one-out single before adding a stolen base that put him in scoring position for Carlos Correa.
Correa followed with a single that plated Altuve. A couple of batters later, Correa came home on a Yuli Gurriel single to centre field.
Altuve produced the only multi-hit game of the opener, finishing three-for-four.
Astros closer Ken Giles tallied a five-out save. He surrendered a two-out home run to Yankees first baseman Greg Bird but didn’t panic. After Bird’s homer, he struck out pinch hitter Jacoby Ellsbury to end the contest.
