Alex Bregman provided all of the offense Framber Valdez and the rest of the Houston Astros needed as the third baseman hit a three-run home run to lead the defending AL champions to a 3-2 victory over the New York Yankees in Game 2 of the 2022 American League Championship Series at Minute Maid Park.
Houston, which won 106 games during the regular season, improved to 5-0 in the postseason.
"We got a few guys hot. We would like to get everybody hot before it's over", said Astros manager Dusty Baker.
After Justin Verlander struck out 11 in Game 1, Valdez followed with a solid seven innings and Bregman went deep for the second time in the playoffs.
"They got a really tough pitching staff over there", Bregman said. "They're really good. So just trying to scratch and claw and battle and try and fight."
Valdez struck out nine and walked none, allowing no earned runs and four hits. The Yankees scored their two runs after the lefty fell down while trying to start a double play.
Featuring a mix of pitches, he got 25 swings and misses. He also helped end the Yankees' record run of 23 straight postseason games with a home run.
"Back in 2019 I probably would have been done with the game", he said through a translator. "I probably would have lost all focus there at that moment. But those are all things that we work on and just continue working hard to be able to focus better and get better in the game."
New York is hitting just .138 in the first two games of the series, striking out 30 times to Houston’s eight.
Luis Severino allowed five hits and three runs over 5 1/3 innings, striking out six.
Aaron Judge just missed a two-run homer in the eighth when his drive was caught just in front of the short wall by right fielder Kyle Tucker.
"I think the roof open kind of killed us", said Yankees manager Aaron Boone. "I didn't think he smoked it like a no-doubter, but it felt like his homers to right."
Bregman, Valdez lead Houston to 2-0 series lead
Severino hit Martin Maldonado on the left forearm before Jose Altuve struck out. Jeremy Pena singled and Yordan Alvarez grounded into a forceout at second to bring up Bregman.
The third baseman took a fastball over the left-field wall to make it 3-0. It was his 14th career home run in the playoffs to move him past Justin Turner for most homers by a third baseman in major league history.
Judge singled to open the top of the fourth. Giancarlo Stanton hit a chopper toward Valdez, and he grabbed it, tried to start a double play, but then dropped it.
He picked up the ball but fell backwards to the ground as he threw to first. His toss was off line, allowing Judge to advance to third and Stanton to reach second on the play.
Anthony Rizzo brought home Judge with a groundout and Gleyber Torres made it a one-run game with an RBI single. Valdez limited the damage by striking out Josh Donaldson and Kyle Higashioka.
Bryan Abreu relieved Valdez and pitched a scoreless eighth. Ryan Pressly walked one, but struck out the side for his second save in two nights.
Cole tries to get Yankees back into series in Game 3
The series shifts to New York for the next two games with first pitch of Game 3 scheduled for 5:07pm Eastern time.
Gerrit Cole, who helped Houston reach the 2019 World Series, will get the start. He helped the Yankees stave off elimination in the ALDS against Cleveland and is 2-0 with a 2.03 ERA this postseason.
Cristian Javier, who was scheduled to start Game 4 on Sunday, was moved up a day after Lance McCullers Jr. needed an extra day of rest due to a shoulder injury, gets the ball.
Javier combined with Hector Neris and Pressly to no-hit New York on June 25th.