[ad_1]
The Houston Astros officially started their title defense on Friday – and it sounded awfully familiar.
A strong exit from their ace Justin Verlander. Big Homers from all the depth range of Houston. And another victory of October.
The Astros started the Cleveland Inductee American League playoff series with a 7-2 win, powered by Alex Bregman, George Springer, Jose Altuve and Martin Maldonado. They will take a 1-0 lead in the series during the second game in Houston, but more importantly, they made a statement: the 2017 Astros have disappeared.
This series is among the best in the first round of the playoffs, with a litany of starters and runners. The main point of the series is to know which team can perform as close to its potential as possible. Friday was certainly the Astros.
Verlander overtook Corey Kluber, a fearsome enemy of the Indians and Houston's four homers recalled last year's, attacking opponents from all angles.
The Indians threatened in the sixth goal, gaining two points on the board, but the Astros responded with another circuit and a single with an RBI in the eighth inning of Josh Reddick (his second RBI of the day), while their paddock finished the day with three scoreless innings. .
A must see
George Springer and Jose Altuve reminded us of how dangerous the Astros offense could be, especially at home. They knocked back against Kluber in the fifth inning, which raised the score to 4-0 at the time and eventually chased Kluber out of the match.
For Springer, this continues on a roll that goes back to the World Series last year. He has now dominated in five consecutive playoff games. He is the third player in MLB history to have achieved such a feat, joining Carlos Beltran (who did so in 2004) and Daniel Murphy (2015). Murphy has had a series of six games, so Springer has the chance to match him in the second game.
What made the difference in Game 1?
People were salivated as a result of this pitching clash, which has generally withstood the hype. Verlander and Corey Kluber started very well, keeping the other team without hitting until the fourth inning. The difference? One of them continued a little longer.
The fourth inning is where Bregman lost to the Astros, getting the first success of the game and putting Houston on the board. The Astros led the way in fifth place, eliminating Kluber from the match with two consecutive homesticks. The Ace Indians ended up giving up more circuits (three) than he had had two (2).
Meanwhile, Verlander took his non-hitter into the sixth. The Indians added two more points in the sixth inning to chase Verlander out of the match, but his performance was still good enough for Houston to win match 1. Verlander finished with seven strikeouts over 5.1 innings, giving up two points on two hits.
What's next for Indians and Astros
A strong pitching match engenders another, that is the beauty of this series. Saturday's second game will bring us Carlos Carrasco (17-10, 3.38) against Gerrit Cole (15-5, 2.88), while we see if the Indians can tie the series back before returning to Cleveland or if they are going head home to the brink of elimination. The first launch is scheduled for 16:37. AND
– – – – – –
<p class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "Mike Oz is a writer at Yahoo Sports. Contact him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @MikeOz"data-reactid =" 42 ">Mike Oz is a writer at Yahoo Sports. Contact him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @MikeOz
<p class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "More from Yahoo Sports:"data-reactid =" 43 ">More from Yahoo Sports:
<p class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "• MLB post-season predictions: who in our view will win the World Series
• Gatherings on the Internet behind a fan of A who's been throwing beer by a Yankees fan
• The Yankees against the Red Sox are a brand new match because they face each other again
• 2018 MLB Team Yahoo Sports: Mookie Betts, Mike Trout Leading"data-reactid =" 48 ">• MLB post-season predictions: who in our view will win the World Series
• Gatherings on the Internet behind a fan of A who's been throwing beer by a Yankees fan
• The Yankees against the Red Sox are a brand new match because they face each other again
• 2018 MLB Team Yahoo Sports: Mookie Betts, Mike Trout Leading
[ad_2]
Source link