Astros Dominate AL And Knock Out Yankees In ALCS

By Lily Belcher

The Houston Astros knocked the New York Yankees out of the ALCS in 6-5 game 4 victory to advance to the World Series Sunday night. This October, the Astros have gone undefeated in their seven postseason games, sweeping the Seattle Mariners in the ALDS and Yankees in the ALCS.

The Yankees struck first with a handful of base hits in the bottom of the first inning and an RBI double in the second to give them an early 3-0 lead. However, poor pitching by Yankee starter Nestor Cortes and undeterred Houston bats allowed the Astros to bounce back in the third.

In the top of the third, Cortes gave up two consecutive walks to Martin Maldonado and Jose Altuve. Rookie and ALCS MVP Jeremy Pena smacked a three-run homerun into left field to put the Astros on the board. Wandy Peralta took over for Cortes on the mound and promptly gave up a double to Yordan Alvarez. Back-to-back base hits drove in Alvarez, giving the Astros a 4-3 lead in the third.

The Yankees tied it up in the fourth with an RBI single to score Harrison Bader and a solo shot by Bader in the sixth gave the Yankees the lead again.

Now trailing 5-4 in the top of the seventh, Altuve outran the throw on a broken bat, infield single. Pena reached first on a fielder’s choice and Altuve advanced to scoring position as Glyber Torres missed a quick toss from Isiah Kiner-Falefa at second.

An RBI single drove in Altuve to tie the game at 5 and another RBI base hit drove in Pena to secure the Astros ALCS sweep.

After a dominating the American League, the Astros will host the Phillies in Houston on Friday, October 28for the first game of the 2022 Fall Classic.