The momentum had shifted drastically, the young upstart Yankees had just dominated the three games in New York and taken a 3-2 series lead. The Houston Astros were on the brink of elimination and needed to win 2 straight at home to make their 2nd trip to the World Series and first as an AL team.
AJ Hinch was being questioned and scrutinized for every move. The hot Astro bats had gone cold, their stud ace had just been rocked. Then they hopped on a plane back to Houston after their third straight loss on Wednesday October 18th and Friday night the series and momentum shifted on that Minute Maid Park mound.
Justin Verlander had been dynamic since being given new life on August 31st, just minutes before the waiver trade deadline. He had to continue that dominance or else his chance for a third trip to the World Series would be lost. The Astros called on him to shut down the Bronx Bombers and get the series to a deciding game 7. The 2011 Cy Young award winner was nothing short of fantastic pitching 7 scoreless innings and striking out 8 getting the win in a 7-1 Astros victory.
The stage was set and almost everyone knew, it was destiny for this team to punch their ticket to the Fall Classic. It was Charlie Morton’s turn to shut down the Yankee youngsters and outpitch CC Sabathia. It was scoreless through 3.5 innings and then Evan Gattis came up and took some aggressive cuts fouling off a couple pitches up in the zone but you saw he was right on top of those pitches, CC couldn’t miss over the plate, but he did, and Gattis got the AL West champs on the board first with a blast to left and they never looked back from there riding Morton and McCullers combined three hitter. The champagne flowed in the locker room and their date with the Los Angeles Dodgers was set.
Tuesday night the Astros are one step closer to finishing the journey that started back in 2011. After all the losses and disappointing seasons, they are four wins away from hoisting the World Series trophy. After all the suffering and tragedy Houston and the surrounding cities have endured, this championship would almost eliminate all the hurt and make the healing process that much faster. #HoustonStrong 🙏🏼⚾️🏆
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