The Houston Astros have punched their ticket to Kansas City and will face the Royals in the ALDS on Thursday after defeating the New York Yankees 3-0 in the AL Wild Card Game.
Astros' left-hander Dallas Keuchel dominated New York once again and became the first pitcher ever to toss 22 scoreless innings against the Yankees in the same season. Keuchel gave up just three hits and one walk while striking out seven over six innings of work.
Houston got some early help from Colby Rasmus and Carlos Gomez, who put the Astros up 2-0 with solo home runs off Masahiro Tanaka in the second and fourth innings. Tanaka, who was making his second start since Sept. 18, surrendered two earned runs on four hits and three walks in just five innings.
The Astros added an insurance run in the seventh with an RBI single from the AL hits and steals leader, Jose Altuve, but they didn't need it. New York registered just three hits (all singles) and two walks against Keuchel, Tony Sipp, Will Harris and Luke Gregerson, who notched his first career postseason save.
And now the criticism is bound to flood the Internet and media outlets. Yankees' manager Joe Girardi opted to bench Jacoby Ellsbury in favor of outfielder Chris Young instead of sitting Brett Gardner. Ellsbury has a .301 batting average in 38 career postseason games while Gardner sports a .215 average in 33 career postseason contests.
Gardner went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts tonight.
New York's only legitimate threatening inning came in the bottom of the sixth. Alex Rodriguez had runners on first and second with two outs, but he swung at the first pitch from Keuchel and flied out to center to end the inning.
The Yankees' season now officially comes to an end after their first home playoff loss since October of 2012.
Houston's year will continue in Kansas City later this week as they hope to capitalize on their first postseason appearance in a decade.
As the regular season came to a close, it appeared as if the Astros were in a bit of trouble, but in the end it all worked out just fine.
After relinquishing the AL West lead to the Texas Rangers and salvaging a wild card spot in the postseason, many believed Houston was in trouble heading to New York for a one-game playoff. However, they had a favorable matchup with Keuchel facing the Yankees (even though he was on three days' rest), which proved to be the difference maker. Now, instead of heading to Toronto to face the MLB's top offense, the Astros will take on the Royals, against whom they are 4-2 this year.
The first game of the ALDS between the Astros and Royals will take place on Thursday at 7:37 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1.