HOUSTON — Justin Verlander was working harder than he anticipated early in the game, requiring 45 pitches to get through two innings. At the time, manager Dusty Baker was concerned that he might go to the bullpen too soon.
Instead, the veteran ace was sharpened.
Verlander had 11 strikeouts in six outstanding innings, while Yuli Gurriel, Chas McCormick and Jeremy Rock homered twice to lead the Houston Astros to a 4-2 win over the New York Yankees in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series on Wednesday.
“This kid has a very strong mindset,” Baker said of Verlander. “When he’s a little below his level, he looks like he can get into trouble, but then he adjusts and improves.”
Western Division champion Houston improved to 4-0 in the playoffs following going 106-56 in the regular season.
The Astros are in their sixth consecutive Championship Series and are looking to reach the World Series for the fourth time in that span. In front of them, they have a New York team that had not disputed the series for the Young Circuit title since 2019, when it was eliminated by Houston itself.
The scoreboard was even 1-1 in the sixth inning when Cuban Gurriel hit his solo homer off reliever Clarke Schmidt, all the way to left field, to put Houston ahead.
Two batters later, McCormick found a sinker from Schmidt and put the ball into the left field stands to make it 3-1.
“I didn’t do my job today,” Schmidt lamented.
Verlander set a major league record with his eighth career postseason game of 10 or more strikeouts. He passed Clayton Kershaw (213) to become the all-time playoff strikeout leadercon 219.
“As the game goes on, you just get more confident if you start throwing better pitches,” Verlander said. “Once I was able to execute my pitches the way I wanted, I felt like my confidence would improve.”
New York struck out 17 times, once morest just two for the Astros. Never before has there been such a difference in a postseason game.
“They really have a very dynamic team,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “They have outstanding pitching and they can cut the game short with the best of them. We have to find a way to react to them.”
Pena, whose 18th-inning homer completed a sweep of Seattle in the Division Series, this time homered off Frankie Montas leading off the seventh inning, stretching the lead to 4-1.
Montas was pitching for the first time since Sept. 16, due to a shoulder injury that kept him off the payroll during the Division Series.
For the Yankees, the Venezuelans Gleyber Torres 4-0.
For the Astros, the Venezuelan José Altuve 3-0. The Dominican Peña 4-3 with a run scored and an RBI. Cubans Yordan Álvarez 2-0, Gurriel 4-1 with a run scored and an RBI, Aledmys Díaz 4-0. Puerto Rican Martín Maldonado 3-1 with an RBI.
