Yankees Shut out Astros to take Playoff Lead

The New York Yankees struck out the Astros to win game 5 and are one win away from the World Series.

The Yankees hosted the Houston Astros in Game 5 of the MLB Playoff Series. Both teams entered the match with the series tied at 2 – 2.

*Game 6 betting and verdict at the end of the article.

The Yankees were making use of their home advantage after winning two straight games prior to this match.

Guys like Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez, Aroldis Chapman, and Tom Frazier had all stuck their hands up in game four.

This time the Yankees wanted to pull away from the Astros who were suffering offensive woes, struggling to get runs throughout the series.

Dallas Kuechel was the pitcher for the Houston Astros in yesterday’s game, and he came in with one of the lowest ERA’s in the league against the Yankees at 1.09. Basically, he was deemed almost unplayable to the Yankees prior to this match, with his lethal fastballs and cutters, averaging 144 km’s an hour.

He struck out Sanchez and Judge in the first and it seemed like he had set the trend for the rest of the game.

But in the second inning, the Yankees got on the board as Starlin Castro caught a fastball slamming it to deep left centre, doubling to second base. Next up was Greg Bird who connected to another fastball sending it to the deep right of the field and singled to first base allowing Castro to score – 1 – 0, Yankees.

The Astros were up to hit – and Yankee pitcher Masahiro Tanaka was on song throwing fastballs at 150 km’s and changing it up with sliders, and splitters. No runs were scored at all for the whole game for the Astros as Tanaka was pitching on a supernatural level.

Aaron Judge stepped up in the third and doubled to second base after hitting a cutter allowing Gardner to score. 2 – 0 Yankees. In the fifth inning, Chase Headley made it to first base after a catching error from the Astros, Judge stepped up and he walked after a high pitch – and that brought in Sanchez who slammed the ball to centre field allowing Headley. With Judge waiting in the at third base Didi Gregorius hit a 149 km fastball from Kuechel allowing Judge to score. 4 – 0 Yankees.

It was all she wrote as Gary Sanchez hit a 126 m homer to seal the game 5 – 0 to the Yankees.

The Houston Astros will travel back home to get ready to face the Yankees in game six in what could potentially be the American League Championship decider as a win for the Yankees will sail them through to the World Series.

Current Betting for Game 6:

Houston Astros 13/20 vs New York Yankees 11/10

Verdict: New York Yankees 11/10
After two winning bets from game four and five, I’ll stick to the Yankees bet as the way they are playing on offence is commendable, after coming back from a 2 – 0 series deficit they now lead 3 – 2. Although all the games they won were at home they only need one win to clinch a spot in the world series and that will be more than enough motivation for them to follow through with the win. 

MLB Playoff Series

Yankees lead 3 – 2