Game: Houston Astros @ New York Yankees
Time: 7:15 p.m.
Odds: Astros -103, Yankees -107
Total: 8.5
The Houston Astros loved their last trip to Yankee Stadium. A little more than nine months later, the first game of a four-game series between the Astros and New York Yankees will take place tonight. Houston is making its first trip to New York since sweeping the American League Championship Series last season.
Houston won its second World Series title by defeating Philadelphia in six games after improving to 3-0 against the Yankees in postseason series (4-0 when including the 2015 AL Wild Card Game). This time, the Astros visit the Bronx after repurchasing Justin Verlander at the trade deadline, who will pitch at some point this weekend.
After winning 3-2 on Wednesday to finish off a three-game sweep of the visiting Cleveland Guardians, the Astros are 10-4 in their last 14 games. Chas McCormick, who hit .351 in July, hit a tie-breaking solo home run in the sixth inning and a two-run shot in the second.
Despite being 8-14 since July 5, New York is hoping for a strong follow-up to one of its better performances of the second half of the season. By defeating the visiting Tampa Bay Rays 7-2 on Wednesday, the Yankees avoided being swept in three games. New York had 13 hits, which was the most since their 13 on June 29 against Oakland.
Giancarlo Stanton of New York finished off a five-run third inning with a tie-breaking three-run home run. That tied his season high with four RBIs. Over his last 19 games, the slugger has collected 19 RBIs.
On Thursday, the Yankees will start right-hander Clarke Schmidt (7-6, 4.39 ERA), who has made 21 starts this season. In 12 of those starts, he has allowed three runs or fewer. In his most recent start, Schmidt lost to Baltimore 8-3 on Saturday after allowing three runs on five hits in five innings. On October 19 in Houston last year, Schmidt took the loss as a reliever after allowing two solo home runs in the sixth inning of Game 1 of the ALCS.
Houston’s Cristian Javier (7-2, 4.33 ERA), who pitched a combined no-hitter on June 25, 2022, in New York with Hector Neris and Ryan Pressly, will make the start. During the no-hitter, the right-hander pitched seven innings and struck out 13, walking just one. In three regular-season appearances (two starts) against the Yankees, he is 1-0 with a 0.60 ERA.
Javier also faced the Yankees in Game 3 of last year’s ALCS. During Houston’s 5-0 victory, he gave up just one hit over 5.1 innings. Javier has made eight starts since his last win on June 3 against the Angels. Since that victory, he is 0-1 with a 7.04 ERA. The last time he pitched was on Friday against Tampa Bay, going six innings and giving up three runs in a no-decision. The Yankees ended up losing 4-3.
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