The last time the Houston Astros visited Yankee Stadium, they celebrated on the field and partied in the visiting clubhouse.
A little over nine months later, the Astros will face the host New York Yankees on Thursday night for the opener of a four-game series. It is Houston’s first visit since finishing off a dominating four-game sweep in the American League Championship Series.
After improving to 3-0 against the Yankees in postseason series (4-0 when including the 2015 AL wild-card game), Houston then won its second World Series title by beating Philadelphia in six games.
This time, the Astros head to the Bronx after reacquiring Justin Verlander, who will pitch at some point this weekend, at the trade deadline.
The Astros are 10-4 over their past 14 games after completing a three-game sweep of the visiting Cleveland Guardians with a 3-2 victory on Wednesday afternoon. Chas McCormick, who batted .351 in July, hit a two-run homer in the second inning and a tiebreaking solo shot in the sixth.
“He had an incredible month, he’s had an incredible season so far, and today he was huge for us driving in all three runs,” Houston third baseman Alex Bregman said of McCormick.
New York is 8-14 since July 5 but hopes one of its better showings at the plate produces a strong follow-up.
The Yankees dodged a three-game sweep by the visiting Tampa Bay Rays when they earned a 7-2 win on Wednesday. New York collected 13 hits, its highest total since also getting 13 on June 29 at Oakland.
“We’ve had some of these games,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “Now it’s about trying to string them together though. That’s where hopefully we can put together a consistent week. We know we got a good team coming in, more good pitching coming our way, but hopefully we can continue to make it difficult, especially on opposing starters.”
New York’s Giancarlo Stanton hit a tiebreaking three-run homer to cap a five-run third and tied a season high with four RBIs. The slugger has 19 RBIs over his past 19 contests.
Right-hander Clarke Schmidt (7-6, 4.39 ERA), who has allowed three or fewer runs in 17 of his 21 starts, and 12 consecutive starts, will get the ball for the Yankees on Thursday. In his most recent outing, Schmidt gave up three runs on five hits in five innings during an 8-3 win at Baltimore on Saturday.
Schmidt will be making his first career start against the Astros. He allowed two solo homers in the sixth inning of Game 1 of the ALCS on Oct. 19 in Houston, taking the loss as a reliever.
Cristian Javier (7-2, 4.33 ERA), who combined with Hector Neris and Ryan Pressly for a no-hitter on June 25, 2022, in New York, will start for Houston. The right-hander struck out 13 and walked one in seven innings during the no-hitter. He is 1-0 with a 0.60 ERA in three career regular-season appearances (two starts) against the Yankees.
Javier also faced the Yankees in Game 3 of the ALCS last season and allowed one hit in 5 1/3 innings during Houston’s 5-0 win.
Since his last victory on June 3 against the Angels, Javier is 0-1 with a 7.04 ERA in his past eight starts. He last pitched on Friday against Tampa Bay, when he allowed three runs in six innings during a no-decision.
–Field Level Media
