Thanks to the width of the right-field foul pole and clutch pitching, the Yankees’ season didn’t transition into winter Friday night.
Instead, the Yankees rode a 4-1 victory over Justin Verlander and the Astros in Game 5 of the ALCS in front of a chilled Yankee Stadium crowd of 48,483 to a Game 6 in Houston on Saturday.
Fueled by a four-run first inning that included DJ LeMahieu’s lead-off homer and Aaron Hicks’ three-run poke that collided with the right-field foul pole, James Paxton then made the home runs stand up.
The victory infused life into a team that played as if it were dead in Game 4, when the Yankees committed four errors, went hitless in seven at-bats with runners in scoring position, stranded 10 and watched Masahiro Tanaka allow four runs and four hits in five-plus innings.
“We are defined by how we get up when we get knocked down,’’ said Aaron Judge, who singled off Verlander after LeMahieu drove an 0-1 pitch the other way into the right-field seats.
Judge’s single was followed by Gleyber Torres’ double into the left-field corner, and they scored on Hicks’ towering homer that clanged off the foul pole. If LeMahieu’s homer was a wake-up call that tied the score, 1-1, Hicks’ blast felt more like a statement.
“It was huge to get off to that start, especially after they scored a run in the first inning,’’ manager Aaron Boone said. “I think it really got our crowd into it even more so. And really Pax took it from there.’’
With Games 6 and 7 to be played at Minute Maid Park, the Yankees didn’t come all the way off the canvas Friday night, but they still have a chance.
A.J. Hinch and Boone are going to use relievers to start Game 6 Saturday night, but they didn’t divulge the names of the pitchers who will open the game. If the Yankees force a deciding Game 7, it will be played Sunday night, when Gerrit Cole and Luis Severino are expected to face each other in a rematch of Game 3, which the Astros won.
“I had a good feel for the fastball tonight and was putting it in some good spots,’’ said Paxton, who gave up one run, four hits, walked four and fanned nine while throwing 112 pitches. He didn’t have a clean inning but stranded seven runners and had to sweat Robinson Chirinos’ fly ball to the warning track that ended the sixth with one on after Boone went to the mound and didn’t take him out of the game. “Had good command of the high fastball tonight, so we went to that a lot.’’
The only pitching blip was Tommy Kahnle. Asked to start the seventh with a three-run lead, he got the first out, but was lifted after George Springer singled and Jose Altuve walked.
Enter Zack Britton, who got the final two outs of the seventh and tossed a perfect eighth to turn it over to Aroldis Chapman, who was perfect and pocketed the save.
“Absolutely, the situation and against a good lineup, that’s [my] best outing as a Yankee for sure,’’ Britton said.
As the ball left Hicks’ bat, it had enough for a three-run homer. The question, to everybody but Hicks, was if it would remain fair.
“I felt like I stayed inside the ball well enough for it to be fair,’’ said Hicks, who wasn’t active for the ALDS because he hadn’t played a big league game since Aug. 3 due to a flexor tendon injury. “I had a lot more spin on it than I thought.’’
What the win did was save the Yankees season for Game 6. The task remains daunting considering the Astros posted a MLB-best 60-21 record at home during the regular season, are 4-1 at home in the postseason and have Cole lurking for Game 7.
“One game, one pitch at a time,’’ Judge said. “Can’t be looking ahead.’’