Astros beat Yankees in ALCS Game 7 to clinch a World Series spot

Once again, the first run in a Yankees-Astros game didn’t come until a few innings into the game. Not every game in this series has been that way, but the “early pitchers duel-turned run fest” after a couple of frames happened once again.

In this case, it was CC Sabathia who made it through the first bit of the game before being chased thanks to a combination of walks, base hits, and a home run from Evan Gattis that put the Astros on the board in the fourth inning.

Sabathia only made it through 3 ¹⁄₃ innings, allowing five hits and one run, no strikeouts and three walks. He looked OK early but Joe Girardi wasn’t taking any chances, switching him out for Tommy Kahnle in the fourth inning to clean things up — which he did when he forced George Springer to ground into a double play.

But Kahnle didn’t last long for New York, pitching for only 1 ¹⁄₃ innings and allowing a home run from Jose Altuve to make it 2-0, and then a double to right field from Brian McCann that brought both Carlos Correa and Yuli Gurriel home to make things 4-0, which would end up being the final score.

They could have had at least one more run if it weren’t for Aaron Judge stealing a probable home run from Gurriel at the wall, thanks to him being so tall and all.

But the Yankees could have had a run of their own if it weren’t for Alex Bregman executing a perfect throw to Brian McCann to get Greg Bird out at home. So it all evens out in the end.

On the Astros side of things, their pitching worked out just as they’d hoped it would. Charlie Morton pitched five scoreless innings, allowing only two hits, walking one, and striking out five on only 54 pitches. Lance McCullers went four one-hit innings, striking out six batters of his own and walking one.

They didn’t even end up using one of their closers, with McCullers getting the four-out save without a sweat. So they’ll go into next week with a fully rested pitching staff, ready to line up how they want to face LA.

The Houston Astros are going to the World Series, where they will face the Dodgers after defeating the scrappy, persistent Yankees.