Springer's 13th playoff homer shifts momentum

NEW YORK -- The Astros hit Yankees starter Masahiro Tanaka hard through the first two innings Thursday night in Game 4 of the American League Championship Series and had nothing to show for it. In the third inning, however, they cashed in when another one of those rockets from George Springer cleared the left-field fence at Yankee Stadium for a home run that gave Houston its first three runs in an 8-3 victory that gave the AL West champs a 3-1 series lead.

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The blast was Springer’s 13th career postseason homer, again setting an Astros club record. As was the case before, that record might not stand for long -- Springer shared the mark with teammate Jose Altuve, who went deep in Game 3 for his 12th career postseason homer.

Three innings later, Houston took a commanding 6-1 lead with its second three-run homer of the game, this one by Carlos Correa, the walk-off hero of Game 2, off Chad Green. Correa's homer, 109.5 mph off the bat, was hit with a launch angle of 17 degrees, tied for the Astros' lowest over-the-wall homer of 2019.

Springer lined out against Tanaka to lead off the game, a ball that came off the bat at 107.8 mph, per Statcast. Springer then clubbed the home run on a splitter -- the second straight splitter he saw in the at-bat -- that hung over the heart of the plate. The homer carried a Statcast-projected 408 feet and left the bat at 109.8 mph.

The swing also represented a significant breakthrough for the Astros against Tanaka, who was charged with three runs in a postseason start for the first time in his career. Tanaka’s streak of seven postseason starts with two or fewer runs allowed represented a Major League record, and he entered the game with the second-lowest postseason ERA among starting pitchers (1.32) since earned runs became an official stat in 1912.

Five of the first six batted balls by Houston’s lineup before the homer were hit with an exit velocity of at least 91.0 mph, including three in excess of 100 mph. The only weakly hit ball had been Josh Reddick’s 73.7 mph single in the third inning, which followed a leadoff walk by Robinson Chirinos to set up Springer’s blast.

The Astros continued the rally with a pair of singles from Altuve and Michael Brantley, and two runners moved into scoring position before two flyouts allowed Tanaka to escape without any more damage.