Yankees stun the Astros with six unanswered runs in the seventh and eighth inning to tie the ALCS at two games

Absolutely stunning. After being dominated by Lance McCullers and being down four runs going into the seventh inning, the Yankees pulled off one of their most improbable comebacks in their rich postseason history. Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez combined for five RBIs in the team’s final two at-bats, and Aroldis Chapman shut the door.

Photo Credit: AP

The game started out as a pitcher’s duel between Sonny Gray and Lance McCullers. Gray pitched five solid shutout innings and was in very little trouble during this span. However, in the sixth inning things started to get shaky. 

Gray walked the first batter he faced and that was followed by a Josh Reddick catcher’s interference. Girardi opted to go to the bullpen, and David Robertson was summoned to try to pitch out of trouble. Robertson walked Altuve to start his outing, but then got a huge strikeout of Carlos Correa. Unfortunately for Robertson, he hung a breaking ball to Yuli Gurriel, and Gurriel roped it down the third base line, which cleared the bases. Gurriel was thrown out between second and third, but the damage was done. 

Photo Credit: AP

The Astros scored their fourth run of the game off of Chad Green in the following inning as a Starlin Castro error led to Marwin Gonzalez scoring from second base.

Lance McCullers was cruising through six innings, and Astros’ manager AJ Hinch opted to send him back out for a seventh inning of work due to his low pitch count. McCullers surrendered a long home run into Monument Park off the bat of Aaron Judge on his first pitch of the inning, and his night was officially over. Chris Devenski entered and was lit up by the Yankee offense. Didi Gregorius led off with a triple against and Gary Sanchez hit him in with a sacrifice fly. Joe Musgrove came in after Devenski surrendered a walk to Greg Bird. He was able to stop any further damage.

Chad Green pitched a 1-2-3 eighth inning to keep momentum on the Yankees side. Todd Frazier led off the bottom of the eighth with a base hit. Girardi opted to lose his DH spot and pinch-hit Chase Headley for Austin Romine. The gamble paid off as Headley laced a double to left-center. He stumbled on his way to second, but a poor tag by Jose Altuve led to him sliding in safely. AJ Hinch took out Musgrove and decided to go to his closer, Ken Giles, for six huge outs. 

Brett Gardner hit an RBI groundout to score Frazier and make it a one-run game. After Jacoby Ellsbury was summoned to pinch-run for Headley on third, Aaron Judge displayed why he was the team’s MVP by crushing a double off the wall to tie the game 4-4. Giles then surrendered an infield single to Didi Gregorius to set-up the struggling Gary Sanchez. Sanchez forgot about all of his struggles, stayed back on the ball, and blasted a two-run double to right-center field to put the Yankees up 6-4. An intentional walk to Greg Bird would then end the night for Giles. Gregerson came on to walk Starlin Castro, but prevented any further trouble.

Photo Credit: AP

Aroldis Chapman came on for the ninth and made extremely quick work of the Astros to secure the Yankees magical comeback win. This win was a huge team win that proves why this team is truly special and never gives up.

With the series tied at two games apiece, the Yankees are now only two wins away from going to their first World Series since 2009. The Yankees have a daunting task ahead of them tomorrow as they will face Dallas Keuchel. The Yankees will oppose him with Masahiro Tanaka who has been phenomenal in the playoffs. 

Winning Pitcher: Chad Green (1-0, 0.00 ERA) 2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K

Losing Pitcher: Ken Giles (0-1, 13.50 ERA) 0.1 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB  
Save: Aroldis Chapman (3)

Notables: 

Aaron Judge 2-4, 1 2B, 1 HR, 2 R, 1 BB, 2 RBI

Didi Gregorius 2-4, 1 3B, 2 R

Gary Sanchez 1-3, 1 2B, 3 RBI

Todd Frazier 2-4, 1 R

Chase Headley 1-1, 2B

Sonny Gray 5 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K

Yuli Gurriel 1-3, 1 2B, 3 RBI

Lance McCullers 6 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 1 HR

Article by: Ryan Thoms

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