Justin Verlander struck out 13 over nine innings and Carlos Correa delivered a solo home run and the game-ending RBI double as the Houston Astros won 2-1 to take a 2-0 American League Championship Series lead over the New York Yankees at Minute Maid Park on Saturday.Jose Altuve scored the game-winning run.A Todd Frazier double knocked in Aaron Hicks for the Yankees' lone tally during the top of the fifth inning.Verlander was the story of the Astros' Game 2 victory:His dazzling array of blazing fastballs and sharp breaking balls stymied the Yankees all night, but Verlander's ability to keep his velocity high in the late innings was most notable.Brian McTaggart of MLB.com tweeted this remark regarding Verlander's fastball:And baseball analyst Jayson Stark noted how many strikes Verlander threw during his efficient outing:Furthermore, Hicks was the only Yankee runner to safely make it past second base for the entire night.The Astros' offensive star was Correa. In the fourth inning, he hit a shot off Yankees starter Luis Severino thatfloated over Aaron Judge's glove and the right field fence to break a scoreless tie.A young fan in right field reached to grab the ball, leading to a review for interference. However, the umpires abided with the call on the field, and the Astros' 1-0 advantage stood.Wth the score tied at one in the bottom of the ninth, Altuve smacked a one-out single off Yankee closer Aroldis Chapman. Correa then walked up to the plate and worked the count full. On the sixth pitch of the at-bat, the Houston shortstop took a 99 mph fastball and lined it into right-center field:Altuve sprinted around third and headed for home. Shortstop Didi Gregorius' relay to Gary Sanchez beat the Astros second baseman to the plate, but the Yankees catcher couldn't handle the throw.The game was eventful throughout the night. In the third inning, Houston made two great defensive plays on back-to-back outs.First, right fielder Josh Reddick prevented an extra-base hit off the bat of Chase Headley by leaping and catching the ball at the warning track:With two out, Brett Gardner then worked the count full before lining a shot down the right field line. He tried for a triple, but the relay throws from Reddick to Correa to third baseman Alex Bregman were accurate, leading to a close tag at third base:Frazier's two-out double to knock in Hicks for the Yankees' lone run was notable as well, as his hit got wedged between the padding and chain-link fence in center field:The umpires called a ground-rule double, tying the game at one in the top of the fifth.The Astros averted further damage after Headley lined out to center field to end the threat.Verlander earned the complete-game win, and Chapman took the loss. Severino tossed four innings of one-run ball but left the game in the fifth inning after being hit by a Yuli Gurriel comeback shot on his left wrist. Severinotold the pressafter the game that he is fine.Houston and New York will head to Yankee Stadium for Game 3 of their best-of-seven series. Charlie Morton will take the ball for the Astros, while CC Sabathia will start for the Yankees. Game time is 8 p.m. ET. Monday night.Get the best sports content from the web and social in the new B/R app. Get the app and get the game.
Click here to read full news..
