The Houston Astros held off the New York Yankees 4-2 in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series on Wednesday night at Minute Maid Park.
The Houston offense cranked three home runs and only struck out twice; that’s quite the rare power/excellent contact combo in modern baseball. New York starting pitcher Jameson Taillon struck out zero batters over 4 1/3 innings pitched.
The Yankees’ offense, meanwhile, struck out a whopping 17 times.
And the 15-strikeout differential is the largest in MLB postseason history.
the Yankees struck out 17 times tonight
the Astros struck out twice
That 15-strikeout differential is the largest in a game in postseason history
— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) October 20, 2022
prior largest diff: 14
1968 WS G1
Bob Gibson — 17 K
Denny McLain — 3 K (+ 2 RP had 0 each)— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) October 20, 2022
Eight different Yankees batters struck out, with Matt Carpenter sporting a golden sombrero with four strikeouts in four plate appearances. Six different Yankees struck out at least twice.
Nine-time All-Star Justin Verlander recorded 11 of those strikeouts and allowed one run over six innings as the Houston starting pitcher.
Justin Verlander was FILTHY tonight! #postseason pic.twitter.com/lzZTbodfml
— MLB (@MLB) October 20, 2022
Justin Verlander
101 mph vs. the Yankees in the 2006 postseason at age 23
98 mph vs. the Yankees in the 2022 postseason at age 39 pic.twitter.com/Nnuc12sSnn
— David Adler (@_dadler) October 20, 2022
Verlander has now reached double-digit strikeouts in eight different postseason games. That’s an MLB record, by two games.
Justin Verlander now has 8 career 10-strikeout games in the postseason, 2 more than anyone else all-time
— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) October 20, 2022
Additionally, Verlander set the record for most career postseason strikeouts with 215. He tops the mark of 213 strikeouts from Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw.
Justin Verlander now has the most postseason strikeouts in MLB history with 215. pic.twitter.com/0X3P0jBDNe
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) October 20, 2022
And Verlander set another record by simply making the start. It was Verlander’s ninth career postseason start vs the Yankees, which tops the previous record of eight postseason starts vs a team.
Tonight will be Justin Verlander's 9th career postseason start against the Yankees.
That sets a new record for the most by any pitcher vs. any team.
Breaks a tie with:
Whitey Ford vs. Dodgers (8)
Christy Mathewson vs. A’s (8)— Andrew Simon (@AndrewSimonMLB) October 19, 2022
Verlander, 39, will receive his third AL Cy Young Award after a remarkable 2022 season in which he put together a 1.75 ERA over 175 innings pitched. And he’s carrying that success over to the postseason in search of his second World Series ring.
The Astros are 4-0 in the postseason and are the clear World Series favorites at the moment; FiveThirtyEight gives Houston a 44% chance at the title, while the Yankees come in second at 21%. Having Verlander certainly helps those chances quite a bit.
