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How the Yankees Won Game 1 of the A.L.C.S. - The New York Times

HOUSTON — Standing at second base after another hit on Saturday night, Gleyber Torres gestured toward his teammates in the visitor’s dugout and smiled. In a lineup of experienced All-Stars and towering sluggers, the youngest of them all — a 22-year-old infielder from Venezuela — has been a shining star of the Yankees’ postseason.

Armed with a potent swing and an uncanny ability to adjust quickly to opposing pitchers, Torres built on his already impressive playoff run by leading the Yankees to a 7-0 win over the Houston Astros in Game 1 of the best-of-seven American League Championship Series on Saturday night.

In the opening act of the highly anticipated matchup between the two best teams in the A.L., Torres produced three hits and drove in five of the Yankees’ seven runs. It was enough to buoy Masahiro Tanaka, the Yankees’ starting pitcher who continued his mastery of October. Tanaka’s six scoreless innings lowered his career postseason E.R.A. to 1.32.

“It’s Gleyber Day,” Yankees shortstop Didi Gregorius said of Torres. “It’s been like that. He’s always come up for the team. He’s playing like a veteran. He’s playing like he’s been in every situation already.”

And of Tanaka, said Brett Gardner: “Masahiro was at his best.”

The A.L.C.S. was expected to be a taut showdown between star-studded lineups and pitching staffs. It may end up that way, but in Game 1, the Yankees easily dispatched the Astros and Zack Greinke, part of Houston’s vaunted starting rotation. The Yankees amassed 13 hits and forced Astros Manager A.J. Hinch to use four relievers.

Beating Greinke was critical for the Yankees. Two of the best pitchers in baseball come next: Justin Verlander in Game 2 and Gerrit Cole in Game 3. Despite Greinke’s guile and long track record in the regular season, the Tampa Bay Rays battered him for six runs in the first round of the playoffs. The Yankees scored less against Greinke but still enough to win.

The Yankees built their offense around two ideas: Home in on the best pitch for the hitter, and swing hard. Despite a cascade of injuries throughout the regular season, the Yankees led baseball in runs scored and fell one home run short of a major league record. The more hard-hit balls, the harder for an opposing team to field them all.

During the first three innings on Saturday, the Yankees smashed some balls at well-positioned Astros fielders. There was a Gio Urshela line drive off Greinke snared by the leaping third baseman, Alex Bregman. A ball smoked by Gardner was gloved by first baseman Yuli Gurriel.

The dam began cracking in the fourth inning against Greinke when the Yankees did what they had done all year: swing aggressively. During the regular season, the Yankees produced a 1.157 on-base-plus-slugging-percentage on the first pitch of a plate appearance — the highest mark in Baseball Reference’s pitch data since 1988.

D.J. LeMahieu started off the frame with a first-pitch single. He scored when Torres laced a double into the left-center field gap on the first pitch of his plate appearance. Two innings later, Torres clobbered another first pitch from Greinke but this time into the left field seats for a solo home run. It was Torres’s sixth extra-base hit in four games this postseason.

“I just go to home plate believing in what I can do and just try to help my team,” Torres said.

The Yankees continued to pile on after Greinke left the game. Giancarlo Stanton, who missed most of the season with several injuries but returned just in time, smashed a home run in the sixth. Torres singled in another two runs in the seventh. Urshela added his first career postseason home run in the ninth. Even on a groundout in the ninth, Torres drove in a run.

With his performance, Torres became the youngest Yankee ever to drive in five runs in a playoff game.

On the mound for the Yankees, Tanaka confounded the Astros’ powerful offense, which was the best in the majors at making contact during the regular season. He threw few pitches over the heart of the strike zone, sticking to the edges — and farther outside — with his best two offerings, a diving split-finger fastball and a biting slider.

“Late break,” Astros second baseman Jose Altuve said of Tanaka’s slider. “You couldn’t see anything until the very end.”

In all, Tanaka allowed just two base runners: a single to Kyle Tucker in the third inning and a walk to Bregman in the fifth. And after Tanaka faced the Astros lineup twice, Yankees Manager Aaron Boone turned the game over to his bullpen, the strength of his staff. With little resistance from the Astros, the Yankees relievers plowed through the final innings, aided by a lead that kept growing thanks to Torres.

“We’re way better than that,” Astros shortstop Carlos Correa said of his team’s offensive performance.

Here’s a look at how the game played out inning by inning.

An inning by inning look at Game 1 of the A.L.C.S.

The Yankees’ torrid postseason continued on Saturday as they won Game 1 of the American League Championship Series, 7-0, seizing home field advantage away from the Houston Astros.

Masahiro Tanaka pitched brilliantly over six innings, holding Houston to one hit — a single by Kyle Tucker — and a walk, while Gleyber Torres did most of the damage offensively. Torres hit a home run, a run-scoring double, a two-run single and knocked in five runs to lead the charge. The Astros only managed three hits in the shutout.

Giancarlo Stanton and Gio Urshela also homered for the Yankees, who were able to keep the normally loud Houston crowd silent for virtually the whole game. The Yankees are now 4-0 in the postseason.

The Astros won a league-high 107 games during the regular season, including 60 at home, also the most in the majors. But the Yankees chipped away at Houston starter Zack Greinke, who has lost two consecutive starts in the postseason and has given up five home runs in the two games.

Now, the Yankees can clinch a World Series berth without winning another game in Houston.

The Yankees are in a very strong position, as the Astros are down to their final three outs after failing to score in the eighth.

Houston’s offense has been flat for a few games. In Game 5 of the division series, the Astros scored six runs, but four of them came in the first inning when Tampa Bay Rays starter Ryan Glasnow was possibly tipping his pitches. Houston only scored seven runs in the previous three games, and several of its hitters have been struggling.

If the Astros can’t rally, there will be a lot of pressure on Justin Verlander in Game 2 on Sunday.

The Yankees have blown the game open with a two-out rally against relief pitcher Ryan Pressly. Not surprisingly, Gleyber Torres had the big hit, going down to get a full-count curve ball and serving it into center field for a bloop single. Didi Gregorius, who started the rally with a single to right, and D.J. LeMahieu scored while Torres moved to second base on the throw to home plate.

Starting pitcher Masahiro Tanaka came out of the game as the Yankees turned to Adam Ottavino. Tanaka was masterful, going six innings and allowing only one hit and one walk as he faced the minimum of 18 batters (thanks in part to a pair of double plays). He threw only 68 pitches, but clearly the Yankees are sticking with the formula that says he tends to lose it the third time through the batting order.

Perhaps the best thing Tanaka did was to keep quiet the 48,000-pound replica locomotive that trundles along over the left field wall at Minute Maid Park. The train, engineered by Bobby Dynamite and stocked with oversize fake oranges, blows a freakishly loud whistle when the Astros hit home runs, and the fans love it.

But it sat silent as Tanaka pitched.

The Astros finally had a runner touch home plate, but the run was nullified after an instant replay review to keep the shutout intact.

With one out and runners on first and third, Alex Bregman hit a ground ball to Gregorius at shortstop. Bregman was initially ruled safe at first on the relay throw from Torres, which would have allowed George Springer to score.

But the Yankees asked for a replay, and it clearly showed Bregman was out by several inches.

The Yankees’ power is coming to the fore as they extend their lead with solo home runs by Gleyber Torres and Giancarlo Stanton.

Torres hit his second homer of the postseason to give the Yankees a 2-0 lead. After Edwin Encarnacion made an out, Stanton drove a fat fastball that was directly over the plate into the Astros bullpen beyond the wall.

Earlier, Zack Greinke tried to get a little cute with Stanton, throwing a slow curve at 61 m.p.h. on a quick pitch. Stanton crushed it, pulling it hard down the left field line, but it hooked foul. One pitch later, he straightened out a 92 m.p.h. fastball as the Yankees took a three-run lead.

Torres hit a high, 91 m.p.h. fastball over the wall in left, and Greinke smacked his glove with his fist as he watched it go out. Torres, who hit .417 in the division series, has a double, a home run and two runs batted in.

The Yankees have Tommy Kahnle warming up in the bullpen.

Masahiro Tanaka issued a leadoff walk to Alex Bregman — which usually leads to trouble. But Aaron Judge tracked down a line drive to the gap by Yordan Alvarez and Bregman slipped on his way back to first base, so Judge’s long throw was in time to double Bregman off.

As a result, Tanaka has still faced the minimum number of batters through five innings.

But after three more batters, he will be facing the Astros for the third time in the batting order, when his effectiveness tends to go down. His batting average against when facing the lineup the third time is .309, and his opponents’ on-base plus slugging percentage is .943.

Zack Greinke got the benefit of a close call in the top of the fifth when he dropped a backdoor slider onto the outside corner at the bottom of the strike zone on a 2-2 count. It was a near perfect pitch for that count, but Brett Gardner thought it was a ball. It was Greinke’s fourth strikeout, with no walks, but he started to labor, and that could become a factor.

Gary Sanchez singled to center, and Urshela, who lined out sharply in his first at-bat, singled to left. After Didi Gregorius hit a long fly ball to right for the second out, Robinson Chironos went to the mound to chat with Greinke and give him a rest. It looked like a pep talk; he patted Greinke several times on the shoulder. It was a productive meeting, as Greinke got D.J. LeMahieu to hit a harmless fly ball to center.

The Yankees took a 1-0 lead as Gleyber Torres jumped on a hanging slider and drove it to the gap in left-center, scoring D.J. LeMahieu from second base.

LeMahieu had reached on a ground ball single and went to second on a strange wild pitch by Zack Greinke. The pitch was supposed to be on the outside corner but shot in under Aaron Judge’s arm and past Robinson Chironos.

But Greinke did well to strand Torres at second with only one out. He struck out Edwin Encarnacion with a vicious slider that was never really in the strike zone, and then got Stanton to hit a fly ball to center field.

Tanaka still looks to be in complete command, setting down the Astros in order in the fourth, and he has still only faced the minimum number of batters.

He struck out George Springer and Jose Altuve in the frame, the latter on a full-count, high breaking ball. He has done a superb job of mixing up locations to keep the Astros off balance.

That also means that for the most part, Tanaka has kept the normally boisterous Houston fans pinned to their seats, and there is a growing sense of anxiety among the 43,311 supporters in Minute Maid Park.

While Masahiro Tanaka and Zack Greinke both look good — each has allowed one hit while facing the minimum number of batters through three innings — the slight edge goes to Tanaka because the Yankees have hit more balls hard.

Two of their outs were sizzling line drives. The Astros got their first hit off Tanaka and it was by the rookie, Kyle Tucker, who had never faced the Japanese right-hander before. Tucker ripped a line drive into right field with one out, but it was erased when Tanaka induced a double-play ball from Robinson Chirinos.

Alex Bregman made the play of the game so far, jumping to snare a sizzling line drive by Gio Urshela. Bregman is not tall for a third baseman — he’s listed at 6 feet, although that might be an exaggeration. But Bregman has been playing deeper at the hot corner this year than he did last year, and that might have been the difference in that play. If the ball got past him, it was likely a double for Urshela.

The Yankees got the first hit on a one-out infield single by Giancarlo Stanton, but Greinke got out of it after Brett Gardner hit into a double play. It was a good at-bat by Gardner, who patiently worked the count full, perhaps hoping for a fastball to hit hard.

He got a changeup instead, but he squared it up and lined it down the first base line. Unfortunately for Gardner, he hit the ball directly at Astros first baseman Yuli Gurriel, who stepped on the bag to double off Stanton.

Didi Gregorius made a curiously weak throw to first base on Alex Bregman’s ground ball, and that forced D.J. LeMahieu to make a nice scoop. But after Tanaka struck out Yordan Alvarez, Gregorius made a perfect, easy throw to first base after he scooped up a ground ball off the bat of Gurriel.

It’s about the pitching here, so far.

Both pitchers looked good in the first inning as neither team got a hit.

Zack Greinke almost spent more time on the mound in a 1-2-3 inning than he did in his obligatory news conference on Friday. Greinke basically refused to engage in any of the questions, giving short, boilerplate answers to questions about what it means to open the series and what would it be like to pitch against the Yankees lineup.

His response to a question about his long layoff in the A.L.D.S. affected him was three words: “I don’t know.” So far, so good in this game.

Masahiro Tanaka looked very sharp, inducing two ground balls and pop up from Jose Altuve. Gleyber Torres fell down while fielding Michael Brantley’s grounder, but still made the throw to first base.

The atmosphere in Minute Maid Park is good, but it seems a tick less intense than in Game 5 of the A.L.D.S. More on that later.

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