NEW YORK -- Lifeless, listless and about to face an elimination game, the New York Yankees discovered a path back into the American League Championship Series. It came by opening the gate to the Houston Astros' bullpen.
After being held to one hit for the first six innings, the Yankees tore through the Astros' wobbly bullpen and rallied for a 6-4 victory that evened the series at two games apiece.
With the Yankees trailing 4-0, Aaron Judge hit a solo home run off Lance McCullers to lead off the seventh -- the only blemish on an otherwise sublime performance by McCullers, a right-hander who had not worked into the seventh inning in four months.
More significantly, Judge's home run sent Astros Manager A.J. Hinch to his bullpen.
"The bottom line is the wheels started turning then," said Todd Frazier, who ended up having a role in the comeback.
Chris Devenski, the first Astro relievers, immediately gave up a triple to Didi Gregorius, who then scored on Gary Sanchez's sacrifice fly.
In the bottom of the eighth, the Astros went through Devenski, Joe Musgrove, closer Ken Giles and Luke Gregerson, but they could not stem the Yankees' surge until four runs had crossed the plate and the lead had changed hands.
Frazier started the inning with a single, and pinch-hitter Chase Headley lined a hit into the left-center field gap that sent Frazier to third. Headley, who was churning toward second, stumbled and fell and was hung up between the bases. But when shortstop Carlos Correa threw behind him to first baseman Yulieski Gurriel, Headley scrambled into second base, just beating Gurriel's throw to second baseman Jose Altuve.
"I was going from extremely excited to extremely panicked in a matter of seconds," Headley said.
Giles came in and retired Brett Gardner on a grounder that scored Frazier, narrowing the Astros' lead to 4-3 and moved Headley to third, where he was replaced by pinch-runner Jacoby Ellsbury.
That brought up Judge, who reached for a two-strike slider from Giles that was off the plate and lined a double off the left-field wall that drove in Ellsbury and tied the score. Gregorius followed with an infield single to shortstop, finding a hole in the Astros' shift, which sent Judge to third.
On it went. Sanchez doubled into the right-center gap, his first hit of the series, to score Judge and Gregorius, and the Yankees had gained a 6-4 lead.
"When I got to second base, my emotions were through the roof," Sanchez said through an interpreter.
Though Gregerson came on and escaped without further damage, leaving the bases loaded, Aroldis Chapman made the lead stand up.
When Evan Gattis hit a shallow fly ball to left field for the final out in the top of the ninth, Gardner gathered it in and the Yankees were left with a heap of momentum to carry into Game 5 today. They will face Astros left-hander Dallas Keuchel (Arkansas Razorbacks), whom they have yet to score on in postseason play.
"We're not going to hit the panic button because we lost two games in a row," Astros shortstop Carlos Correa said. "We got Keuchel going tomorrow."
The Astros appeared to be on their way to victory Tuesday when Gurriel's bases-loaded double into the left-field corner off reliever David Robertson's hanging curveball broke open a scoreless game in the sixth inning and gave them a 3-0 lead.
The Astros made it 4-0 in the seventh when Marwin Gonzalez doubled off Chad Green and scored on Starlin Castro's second error of the game. Castro fielded Brian McCann's grounder on the outfield grass, but stumbled backward and fell, with the ball slipping loose. Gonzalez, who was advancing to third, continued home.
McCullers, who had two stints on the disabled list this season with a back injury and missed 18 days in September with a fatigued arm, carried a one-hit shutout into the seventh. The home run by Judge was one of the few mistakes he made with his curveball, which he threw on 42 of his 81 pitches.
"He was awesome," Hinch said. "And really proud of him because I know how important this start was for him."
But McCullers was matched nearly pitch for pitch by the Yankees' Sonny Gray, who had not pitched in 12 days -- since the division-series opener, when he lasted just 3⅓ innings in a 4-0 loss to the Cleveland Indians.
In an effort to keep Gray sharp, the Yankees had him throw a simulated game last Thursday. And in a bid to increase Gray's comfort level, Girardi used Austin Romine at catcher and slid Sanchez into the designated hitter's slot. In eight starts with Sanchez behind the plate, Gray was 2-6 with a 4.63 ERA. In three starts paired with Romine, Gray was 2-1 with a 1.45 ERA.
There also was another motive behind the move: It gave Sanchez a break from behind the plate.
"The numbers bear out that he had better starts with Austin," said Girardi, who hoped the move would help Gray avoid an early exit. "Sometimes it just happens."
Sports on 10/18/2017