“But we just haven’t been able to solve (Astros pitcher Dallas) Keuchel this year”.
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With the defeat, the Yankees failed to reach the divisional round in their first postseason appearance since 2012.
Houston advanced by blanking the Yankees 3-0 Tuesday in New York.
Then again, like Donaldson, the 27-year-old Keuchel – who made roughly $21.5 million less than Tanaka this season – can become a free agent just four short years from now.
“Something that I mulled over for a couple days”, Girardi said.
The victory in Tuesday night’s sudden-death contest at Yankees Stadium eliminated the Bronx Bombers and sent the Astros into a division series against the Kansas City Royals, the reigning AL champs.
But even though the Astros won, that doesn’t mean there aren’t questions still circulating around the team heading into their ALDS matchup with the Kansas City Royals.
The Yankees did have one chance in the sixth inning, their only one with multiple runners on base, but with two on and two out, Alex Rodriguez swung at the first pitch and flied out to center field to end the only threat. Rasmus, who hit 25 home runs this season, dropped the head and hit a tee shot into the stands.
Jose Altuve delivered an insurance run in the seventh with an RBI single to left field off Yankees reliever Dellin Betances. Will Harris, Tony Sipp and closer Luke Gregerson went three scoreless innings with only one walk and a pair of strikeouts.
The Astros raced to an area between first and second after Brian McCann grounded out to end it and jumped up and down in a big scrum.
It was a celebration a few years in the making. Tanaka had allowed 15 of these last season, and this season he surrendered 27, two of them in this crucial game against the Astros. “We as an organization had a tough decision to make picking between Gardy and Ellsbury and Gardy got the nod”. “It’s going to be fun”. And despite all the talk of a playoff reset for the struggling lineup, they went bust in their first – and only – postseason game of the post-Derek Jeter era.
Fans provoked Keuchel, 27, the minute he strolled to the outfield for warm-ups. ESPN Stats and Info reported that five of his first 18 called strikes against the Yankees were actually balls.
They barely averaged just under three runs per game through the final two weeks.
It didn’t help that the Yankees were facing Dallas Keuchel, the Astros lefty widely considered the front runner for the American League Cy Young Award. Teixeira will play next year in his final contract season, so Bird won’t be at first and that means the Yankees have to wait to get younger.
“Though the Yankees stood by their teammate, expressing their support, it could not have been comforting for Manager Joe Girardi, who takes extra care in tamping down any issue that might be viewed as a distraction”, the New York Times wrote.
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“To come to Yankee Stadium and play that well was truly remarkable”, said Keuchel, the AL’s only 20-game victor. He only allowed two more hits in five innings but matched a season high with three walks.
