Keuchel outshines Tanaka in LCS Game 1

ASTROS 2 - YANKEES 1 
HOU leads series 1 - 0 

Dallas Keuchel continued his mastery of the Yankees in Game 1 of the 2017 ALCS, as he guided the Stros to a 2-1 victory and 1-0 series edge in this best-of-seven match-up. If the Yankees are going to win this thing and get to the World Series, they are going to have to figure out Keuchel who owns a 0.71 ERA in two postseason starts this year, and has a 0.00 ERA in 13 innings against New York in the playoffs. Remember it was Keuchel who blanked the Yankees over six innings in the 2015 Wild Card game.

The Astros' ace dominated New York's see-fastball, hit-fastball offense with a heavy dose of soft stuff. Changeups, sinkers and a whole lot of sliders. His hardest pitch clocked in at 92 mph. Against a lineup like the Yankees, being crafty can be a work of art. And for seven innings on Friday night, Keuchel delivered a masterpiece.

He gave up only four hits, all singles, and struck out 10 batters. He handled the likes of Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez and Didi Gregarious with virtual ease, confusing them all with off-speed pitches on all levels of the plate. There was no way they could keep up.

This is not to say the Yankees didn't have a shot in Game 1. They did thanks in big part to their former-ace Mashairo Tanaka, who turned his second brilliant postseason outing in a row. Unfortunately for Tanaka his performance was overshadowed by that of Keuchel's. Tanaka held the Astros to just four hits over six innings, shutting down the highest scoring offense in the American League. He kept George Springer and Josh Reddick silent. Carlos Beltran was quiet, and Brian McCann was like a church mouse.

But the biggest problem for Tanaka on Friday was one man. Jose Altuve. All 5-foot-6 inches of him.  Altuve had three hits on the night, none bigger than the single that he bounced between Tanaka's legs that led to an infield single in the bottom of the fourth. Altuve then used his legs to kill the Yankees. He stole second base, and later scored on a RBI base hit by Carlos Correa to give the Astros a 1-0 lead. Two batters later, Cuban defector Yuli Gurriel had the hardest hit of the day, a two-out smash hit of a single to drive in Correa to make it 2-0 'Stros.

An inning later, the Yankees tried to answer in the top of the fifth. Greg Bird singled and Matt Holliday reached on an Altuve error. With two on and none out, Keuchle jammed Todd Fraizer into a fly out to center, and struck out Brett Gardner swinging on a slider down and away.

Now it was Judge's turn. Judge who still looked somewhat uncomfortable at the plate, guessed right on a 3-2 slider and looped into left field for a base hit. The Yankees misjudged the depth of the outfield and sent Bird around third, who wound up a dead duck at home plate for the final out of the fifth inning. While manager Joe Girardi did challenge the play afterwards, the fact that the third base coach sent Bird on a shallow single to left was a hideous coaching decision, and one that haunted the Yankees all night.

How so you ask? Well, ironically, Bird blasted a solo shot to right field off the foul pole to make it a 2-1 game in the ninth. Imagine if the Yankees had been more patient, and scored that run in the fifth inning? We'd likely be looking at a brand new game in the ninth.

Instead it wasn't meant to be. It was Dallas Keuchel's night, and Jose Altuve's night instead as the Astros grabbed the early series lead.

Will the Bird home run serve as a turning point? If the Yankee bats come to life on the hard throwing Justin Verlander, Saturday afternoon, then maybe we can look at that solo homer as the hit that ignited the team. We'll see. The Yankees will need Luis Severino to pitch lights on Saturday if they are to bring this series back to the Bronx knotted up at one.