The MLB playoffs standings has the Houston Astros into the ALDS against the Kansas City Royals after winning the American League wild card game against the NY Yankees. The Yankees could not muster a run and lost 3-0 against Houston, who came into the playoffs as the second wild card team in the AL.
Dallas Keuchel pitched brilliantly and Masahiro Tanaka gave up solo home runs to Colby Rasmus and Carlos Gomez that were enough for the Astros to get the win. Jose Altuve added an RBI single in the seventh inning to push the lead to 3-0, but it didn't matter, as the Yankees could not get anything going on offense. Keuchel now has 22 innings of scoreless pitching against the Yankees over three starts this season and he helped the Astros move into the next round of the playoffs.
The Yankees have now lost five straight games in the postseason and the Astros earned their first win in the playoffs since back in 2005. Tanaka made it through five innings and gave up home runs in the second and fourth innings for the Yankees and the lineup could not get anything going to cut the Astros lead. Gomez smashed a solo home run after not playing much since early September with an injury and it was his second career postseason home run
Tanaka was not sharp and only had two strikeouts while throwing 49 of 83 pitches for strikes and now the Yankees will have to start thinking about next season. The Astros bullpen is considered to be a weak spot, but the group came through after relieving Keuchel and did not allow the Yankees to score a run. The Yankees lineup did not include Jacoby Ellsbury as a starter, as Joe Girardi wanted to play to the pitching matchup and clearly things did not work out as planned.
The Yankees had some chances, but Keuchel was too good and he ended up keeping the team at bay. The Yankees had Didi Gregorius on in the sixth inning and with two outs Alex Rodriguez came up, but he flied out and the team could not get a run around. The Astros now will face off against the Kansas City Royals and funny enough for the Yankees, they open the season at Yankee Stadium against (you guessed it) the Astros.
The Royals were the top team in the AL and they were waiting for the Wild Card game winner to see who they would play in the next round. The first game will be on Thursday and coverage is on Fox Sports 1 and that will have a pitching matchup with Collin McHugh against Yordano Ventura.
Check here for the MLB playoffs schedule, standings and wild card recap.
