The Houston Astros' offensive explosion led them to a 15-1 win over the New York Yankees. Astros designated hitter Evan Gattis and outfielder Carlos Gomez both tallied four RBI's and a home run.
Houston's All-Star left-hander Dallas Keuchel (W, 15-6, 2.28 ERA) came away with the victory as he pitched seven shutout innings, allowing only three hits while striking out nine. Yankees right-hander Ivan Nova (L, 5-6, 4.50 ERA) had a rough outing as he lasted only four innings giving up seven runs on seven hits and four walks. Over Ivan Nova’s last four starts he has gone 1-3 with a 7.17 ERA.
The Toronto Blue Jays defeated the Texas Rangers 6-5 tonight so they regain sole possession of 1st place in the AL East over the New York Yankees.
The scoring started for the Astros in this onslaught of the Yankees in the first inning. Ivan Nova started out strong getting two outs rather quickly, but then he walked Carlos Correa and the wheels fell off the metaphorical bus. The very next batter was Colby Rasmus who tripled home Correa. After another walk to Evan Gattis, Carlos Gomez doubled to left center to make it a 2-0 game. Next batter Luis Valbuena doubled to deep left, which plated home Evan Gattis and Carlos Gomez to make it 4-0. Marwin Gonzalez kept the line moving as he singled home Luis Valbuena for the final run of the first inning to make it 5-0. Here is video of the five-run first inning.
Houston's bats woke up again in the fifth inning when Evan Gattis took Nova deep with Colby Rasmus on base to make it 7-0. That would be the end of the line for Nova as Joe Girardi brought in reliever Nick Rumbelow, however, it didn't get better for the Yankees moving forward. Two batters later Marwin Gonzalez hit a solo shot to right to make it an 8-0 ballgame. After a double by Jason Castro and a single by Jose Altuve, Jed Lowrie hit the ball to Brendan Ryan who made an error allowing Castro to cross the plate making it 9-0.
The Astros continued their assault on Yankee pitching in the seventh inning when Colby Rasmus walked with the bases loaded to score Jason Castro to make it 10-0. Evan Gattis followed that with a singled that scored Jake Marisnick and Carlos Correa to make it 12-0. The next batter in the form of Carlos Gomez gave a ball a ride to center, scoring Colby Rasmus and Evan Gattis to make it 15-0.
That would be all the scoring until the bottom of the ninth when Greg Bird grounded into a fielder’s choice which scored Jacoby Ellsbury to put the Yankees on the board, making it a 15-1 ballgame. That would be the way it would end as the Yankees would go home tonight after getting demolished.
The only Yankee pitcher tonight to not give up any runs was utility infielder Brendan Ryan, who pitched two scoreless innings giving up only two hits. He pitched the eighth and the ninth innings tonight. He is the second Yankee position player to pitch in a game this year, the other being first baseman Garrett Jones.
In the post game interview Joe Girardi talked about Dallas Keuchel and his performance tonight, “He mixes his pitches. He locates extremely well. He’s got late movement on his fastballs. Thought he used his changeup effectively and he uses both sides of the plate.”
Girardi talked about the incident in the sixth inning when Carlos Gomez flipped his bat and yelled towards the dugout, "Some of our guys took exception to it and I think they took even a little more exception when he started yelling at our dugout. Just got a little heated."
The cameras caught Carlos Gomez saying “shut up” to the Yankees dugout over and over again and then Yankee catcher John Ryan Murphy and Carlos Gomez would get into a heated conversation.
Here is a video of the altercation and the eventual clearing of the benches.
"I don't think there's any place for that, especially in a 9-0 game," Murphy said post game. "He's an energetic guy. Everybody knows that. We respect him as a baseball player, just, there's a right way and a wrong way to play the game."
Ivan Nova was asked about his performance tonight and he said, “Obviously not a good game today…..I want to help this team win games especially this late in the season. We are fighting for a spot in the playoffs, and pitching a game like this it doesn't help the team, it doesn't help myself.”
Brendan Ryan said this about pitching in the late innings, "I can't be too happy, we got our butts kicked. I didn't have a good game, I went 0-for-3 and made an error but I got a couple of innings and saved the bullpen a bit."
Tomorrow the Yankees look to get back on the right track in an afternoon showcase at Yankee Stadium, with Michael Pineda returning after going on the DL on July 30th. The Astros go with Collin McHugh tomorrow as they try and capture a series win on the road.