Astros Take Advantage of a Compromised Yankee Bullpen. Pressly & Neris Star from the Pen: My ALCS Game 1 Observations
The Astros had the top arms in their bullpen rested for Game 1 and the Yankees didn't. Pena and Gurriel deliver big hits. Verlander flipped the switch, Justin the nick of time.
Observations on the Game 1 victory over the Yankees.
A rainstorm here in the New York City metropolitan area forced a postponement of Game 5 of the ALDS series between the Yankees and Guardians. It pushed the game to Tuesday night and left the Yankees without an off day before Game 1 of the ALCS.
That rain delay provided an advantage for the Astros. The Yankees used their top three current relievers on Tuesday night for a total of 4 innings. The need to get to the ALCS changed how Aaron Boone managed in the ALCS.
After the game, Boone said “We’re in a situation with what we just went through where the guys we’ve leaned on heavily are going to be more in winning situations late tonight.” Lindsey Adler of The Athletic helpfully translated that awkward statement: “relievers Clay Holmes, Wandy Peralta, Jonathan Loaisiga would have been used to maintain a lead, rather than a tie.”
Boone turned to Clarke Schmidt, who had a modest 3.60 FIP and 2.43 K/BB ratio. Schmidt was able to induce a double play from Kyle Tucker with the bases loaded, but int the bottom of the sixth, he gave up solo home runs to Yuli Gurriel and Chas McCormick.
In the seventh, Jeremy Pena took Frankie Montas, just off the injured list, to the train tracks for a key insurance run.
That the Yankees had a compromised bullpen was a small advantage for the Astros entering Game 1. The way the game played out, it turned into a really meaningful advantage.
Jeremy Pena went 3 for 4 with a pair of doubles and that home run. In the playoffs, he is now 7 for 20 with with 5 extra base hits and a walk. It’s an impressive batting line for any player, much less for a rookie.
But to me, the thing about Pena is that he never looks like a rookie on the field. He handles himself with the maturity of a veteran. And it’s paid off for the Astros this postseason.
Hector Neris had an excellent inning in the seventh out of the bullpen relieving Justin Verlander. He threw 12 pitches, and 9 were for strikes. He induced harmless contact from Harrison Bader and Isiah Kiner-Falefa before striking out Jose Trevino on 3 pitches.
And Ryan Pressly was even better. He completely dominated the four Yankee hitters he faced.
He threw 15 pitches, and only 2 balls. Of his 13 strikes, 5 were swings and misses. He struck out 3 batters and induced a soft grounder for the final out of the game.
It’s next to impossible to pitch any better, much less against on MLB’s final four.
Good baseball games have lots of drama. But when your team is ahead late, you do not want any drama. Neris prevented any drama in the 7th. Pressly ended any drama when he cleaned up Rafael Montero’s mess in the 8th, and then eliminated the drama in the 9th.
Great job gentlemen.
The Yankees hit two home runs. That’s not great. But they were both solo home runs. One by Harrison Bader in the 2nd against Justin Verlander. And one by Anthony Rizzo in the 8th against Montero in the 8th.
But the key here is that they were solo home runs. And Astros limited traffic on the bases tonight, allowing only 6 Yankee baserunners—two on singles, one on a double, two via a walk, and 1 hit batter.
The two walks stand out. As I identified in my ALCS preview yesterday, the Yankees led the majors in drawing walks. That the Astros limited the Yankees to only two walks was crucial to the win tonight. The arms need to keep this up over the rest of the ALCS.
Of course, part of how the Astros kept the Yankees off the base paths was by keeping them from making contact. The Astros struck out 17 Yankees tonight; 11 by Verlander, 1 by Neris, 2 by Montero, and 3 by Pressly.
It’s hard to score runs when you can’t even make contact.
Yuli Gurriel had an OPS of .647 and hit only one home run after the Fourth of July. He’s now hit 2 in 4 playoff games. I think this may be a dead cat bounce from Gurriel, but it couldn’t have come at a better time.
Jose Altuve didn’t take and 0 for 4 tonight. That’s because a second inning walk kept him from getting 4 at bats. Altuve was hitless in three at bats tonight, and he is now 0 for 19 in this year’s playoffs.
This will change soon. I just hope soon means “tomorrow,” instead of “at Spring Training 2023.”
When facing the first 13 batters of the game, Justin Verlander got two strikes on the batter 10 times. This is good.
But he only got the third strike against 2 of those hitters. Of the other 8 batters, 7 made contact, including the loud contact of the Bader home run and a Giancarlo Stanton double. There was contact on the other batter; Verlander hit Anthony Rizzo with a pitch.
But after Stanton’s double, Verlander immediately was able to find his command and this Ks started coming.
Of the final 11 batters that Verlander faced, 9 got to a two strike count and 9 batters struck out. Verlander found his command right in the middle of an inning; heck, it was in the game’s most critical spot (runners on 2nd and 3rd; one out). But once Verlander found his command, Yankee batters basically couldn’t touch him.
It was impressive to watch. But when you think about it, a lot things about Verlander are impressive to watch.