All I wanted the Yankees to do on Friday night (10/18) was to “Give it there all” and give it there all they did as backed by a superb James Paxton, the Yankees kept there season alive with a 4-1 win at Yankee Stadium.
Early on, it looked like the Yankees had given up already, as some miscommunication by James Paxton and Gleyber Torres, followed by a passed ball and a wild pitch on Gary Sanchez, led to a 1st inning run that gave the Astros a 1-0 lead and with Justin Verlander on the mound, that run felt like 10 runs to us fans.
But It didn’t to the players, as on JV’s second pitch, DJ LeMahieu smacked a HR to right that tied the game and “Woke up the crowd”. Then, a few batters later, Aaron Hicks clanked one off the right field fouls pour for a 3run HR that sent the crowd into a frenzy and gave the Yankees a commanding 4-1 lead.
From there, James Paxton was phenomenal, as he went 6 innings of 1 run ball with 9Ks and despite allowing 14 baserunners and never getting a clean inning, he limited the damage and kept the Astros bats to one run.
In the 7th, Zack Britton relived Tommy Kahlene who was in a jam, as the Stros had men on 1st and 2nd with 2 outs for Michael Brantley. But Zack came to the rescue, as a force out from Brantley, and a lineout from Alex Bregman kept the Yankees on top.
After that, it was two straight “Blow away innings” by Britton and Aroldis Chapman as the Yankees staved off elimination with a 4-1 win and have forced a game 6 on Saturday night (10/19) in Houston that will be a Battle of the Bullpens to see if the Yankees survive, or the Astros advance.
Stay tuned!
MVP: Aaron Hicks
LVP: Justin Verlander
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