The Houston Astros rode the right arm of Justin Verlander and power from unlikely sources to take Game 1 of the 2022 American League Championship Series against the New York Yankees 4-2 at Minute Maid Park.
Despite needing 45 pitches to get through the first two innings, the Houston ace settled down and blew away the New York lineup, finishing up with 11 strikeouts over six innings.
"This guy, he has mental toughness", said Astros manager Dusty Baker. "When he's down and out and you look like you got him in trouble, this guy, he can dial it up."
Verlander settles down, blows through Yankees lineup; Astros hit pair of home runs to take Game 1
Jameson Taillon, who gave up one run and four hits in 4 2/3 innings, gave up a double to Pena when Stanton couldn't grab his fly ball in left. Yordan Alvarez walked, but Aaron Judge robbed Alex Bregman of an extra-base hit with a diving catch in right.
Verlander, who allowed six runs in Game 1 of the ALDS against Seattle, gave up a solo home run to red-hot Harrison Bader, who went deep for the fourth time in the playoffs.
In the bottom of the inning, McCormack drew a two-out walk from Taillon and catcher Martin Maldonado brought him home with a double into the right-center field gap.
In the third, New York had runners on second and third with one out, but Verlander struck out Stanton and Donaldson to escape the jam.
"I gave it everything I had to try to get a couple of strikeouts and was able to do that", he said. "Then from there, that kind of mentality, just keep making your pitches and a couple adjustments that I was able to make fairly quickly on the off-speed stuff really paid off."
He tied a postseason record with six consecutive strikeouts and didn't allow a baserunner after the third inning, fanning nine of the last 11 hitters he faced.
"We couldn't really get anything going against him", said Aaron Judge, who went 0-4. "We couldn't really come up with that timely hit early on to keep him on his toes."
Yuli Gurriel homered to break the tie and Chas McCormack and Jeremy Pena also went deep as Houston improves to 6-1 all-time against the Yankees at home in the playoffs.
Gurriel hit a solo shot off of reliever Clarke Schmidt into the Crawford Boxes in left to give the AL West champions the lead for good. Two batters later, McCormack took a sinker from Schmidt over the right-field wall.
"I didn't do my job today", Schmidt said.
Pena, who clinched the Division Series against Seattle with a solo homer in the top of the 18th, took Frankie Montas deep in the bottom of the seventh.
He doubled twice before his homer to give him seven hits this postseason. His three extra-base hits equaled a rookie record for a postseason game.
"It's everything I dreamed of", he said of his first postseason. "The environment, the fans, the crowd, the preparation that goes into every game. It's fun."
Anthony Rizzo pulled the Yankees to within 4-2 by homering off of Rafael Montero with two outs in the eighth. Giancarlo Stanton singled and Josh Donaldson walked.
Baker summoned closer Ryan Pressly, who struck out Matt Carpenter and pitched a 1-2-3 in the ninth to record the save.
Carpenter struck out all four times he got up in his return from a broken foot.
"The way (Verlander) threw the ball tonight, I could have played for the last two months and it would have been a tough day", he said.
The Yankees struck out 17 times in total to just two for the Astros, the largest difference ever in a playoff game.
"They're obviously really dynamic", Boone said. "Outstanding starting pitching, but can shorten the game with the best of 'em. So we've got to find a way to break through against them."
Yankees try to get even against Valdez
Game 2 is scheduled for Thursday night with Luis Severino opposing Framber Valdez. First pitch is scheduled for 7:37pm Eastern time.