Houston will hit the road for this one and would likely be satisfied with a four-game split. New York would like to get greedy and pick up three wins. Both teams have done it with offense this year and runs could be a regular occurrence if the lineups keep hitting.
The Astros and Yankees are teeming with young talent, and both sides would love to pick up this important early-season series.
This series will be contested from Thursday, May 11 through Sunday, May 14, 2017 at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, New York. The Thursday matchup will be televised on MLB Network. The Sunday game will be shown on ESPN.
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Pitching Matchups
The first pitching faceoff of the series is a beauty. The Astros will send their ace, Dallas Keuchel, to the hill. He is 5-0 with a sparkling 1.88 ERA and a miniscule 0.85 WHIP. Keuchel is holding opposing batters to a .179 batting average and will aim to flummox New York’s hot bats. The Yankees will counter with Michael Pineda, who is 3-1 this season with a 3.12 ERA. Pineda is a fireballer who has gotten 43 strikeouts in 34.2 innings pitched and has the stuff to get even the best Astros hitters out.
On Friday, Houston is scheduled to start the the talented Lance McCullers. He is 2-1 as a starter with a 3.40 ERA, striking out 50 batters and walking only 13 in 42.1 innings pitched. The Yankees will send out Jordan Montgomery, a youngster who is 2-1 with a 3.81 ERA. The Astros have the pitching advantage in this one.
Mike Fiers will take the mound for the Astros on Saturday with a 1-1 record and a 5.64 ERA. He is striking out batters at a good clip but is letting opposing lineups bat .287 against him. The Yankees hope Luis Severino can stay hot. He enters with a 2-2 record, a 3.40 ERA and a 0.91 WHIP.
In Sunday’s finale, the Astros are scheduled to start Charlie Morton, who is 4-2 with a 3.63 ERA. Masahiro Tanaka struggled early in the season but has looked better of late, and enters this one with a 5-1 record and a 4.36 ERA. He has a career ERA of 3.22 and should get back down near there as the year goes on.
Bronx Bombers
The Yankees have jumped out to the best record in the major leagues at 21-10 because of their offense. They have 180 runs scored through 31 games, which is the second-most in the majors behind only the Washington Nationals.
Aaron Judge has been a huge part of it. He is batting .317 on the season with 13 homers and 28 RBIs. Judge has an on-base percentage of .413 and an OPS of 1.173, proving to be one of the elite hitters in baseball early on. Starlin Castro has been another big key, batting .354 with six homers and 21 RBIs.
Aaron Hicks, Matt Holliday and Jacoby Ellsbury have also hit extremely well. The Yankees also recently welcomed back Gary Sanchez, who had a breakout season in 2016 as a rookie and adds another potent bat to the middle of the lineup.
Young Guns
The Astros also boast an impressive core of batters, led by their middle infield duo of Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa. Altuve is hitting .295 with five homers, 15 RBIs and nine stolen bases on the season. Correa started slowly but is now batting .273 with four homers and 17 RBIs.
The team is also getting big contributions from Evan Gattis, Josh Reddick, Brian McCann, Carlos Beltran and George Springer. The Astros have one of the deepest lineups in baseball and heading to hit-friendly New York should keep them hot.
The Astros are 23-11 on the season and already six games ahead of the rest of the pack in the American League West. They are hoping to run away with it, and a successful series in New York would help them keep the heat on the others.
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