Astros blanked by Yanks for 2nd straight game

HOUSTON -- The hype surrounding the Yankees as they entered their 2017 American League Championship Series rematch with the Astros was how devastating their offense has been. It's been the Yankees' pitching that has been giving the Astros fits.
Luis Severino tossed his first career complete game while shutting out the Astros, striking out 10 batters and allowing just five hits, and Giancarlo Stanton swatted a pair of homers off Dallas Keuchel as Houston fell to the Yankees, 4-0, on Wednesday night at Minute Maid Park.
"The night was about Severino, obviously," Astros manager AJ Hinch said. "He completely dominated the night. We didn't have an answer for him. We put a little bit of stress on him in the seventh, but other than that, he was dialed in."

The Astros have scored two runs in the first three games of the series against the Yankees, having been shut out in back-to-back games for the first time since July 1-2, 2013, against Tampa Bay. They haven't scored since the fourth inning Monday, a span of 22 innings.
"He was legit, man," Alex Bregman said of Severino. "He shoved it up our [rears]. He shoved it."
Keuchel (1-5), who's pitched well against the Yankees in his career, threw seven innings and was tagged for three runs -- both on Stanton homers. Stanton hit a liner into the right-field seats in the first for a 2-0 lead and lofted a solo shot into the Crawford Boxes in the fourth. His RBI double off Héctor Rondón in the eighth made it 4-0.
"You've got to give credit to him. He obviously made some adjustments form the first two games, and a bunch of their big boys were selling out the other way early," Keuchel said. "That was just a muscle home run. You've got to tip your cap. I made the necessary adjustments, but when Severino's got it going on like he did tonight, it's going to be tough sledding for our offense."

Stanton homered off a sinker in the first inning and yanked a slider on the inside edge in the fourth into the left-field seats. It was his second multihomer game of the season.
"I felt like he had very good command," Hinch said of Keuchel. "I thought Dallas for the most part really threw the ball where he wanted to and just got beat by a couple of really good swings on different pitches."

MOMENT THAT MATTERED
The Astros had managed three baserunners through six innings before Yuli Gurriel and Josh Reddick (2-for-4) started the seventh with singles. Bregman followed with a soft liner up the middle that Gleyber Torres ran down behind second base for a great catch. Severino struck out Marwin Gonzalez and got Brian McCann to ground out to end the threat. Bregman's ball had a hit probability of 72 percent, according to Statcast™.
"Trying to bunch things together and put any sort of pressure on him was a challenge," Hinch said. "We had the first two runners on, and [if] that ball falls and the bases are loaded, they've got activity in their bullpen and they've got to figure out what's going on. That would have been the best opportunity and only opportunity of the night. Great play by them."

SOUND SMART
Bregman's error in the seventh inning snapped Houston's 12-game errorless streak, which tied for the third-longest streak in club history. It also snapped the Astros' franchise-record 21-game errorless streak by position players.
HE SAID IT
"Stanton's got some swing and miss in him if you can get it there, and if you don't get it there, it's death, obviously." -- Hinch, on Keuchel's slider on the inside edge to Stanton in the fourth

UP NEXT
The Astros will send right-hander Lance McCullers Jr. to the mound in Thursday's 1:10 p.m. CT series finale against the Yankees at Minute Maid Park, facing right-hander Masahiro Tanaka. McCullers struck out seven batters and allowed two hits over seven scoreless innings while picking up his fourth win in his previous start Saturday against Oakland.