LDN - Sports

McCullers, Astros dump Yankees

[July 28, 2016] HOUSTON -- If recent weeks represent the start of Astros right-hander Lance McCullers' emergence, observers would be wise to take notice.

McCullers posted his fourth double-digit strikeout start of the season, and Colby Rasmus snapped a prolonged slump with a critical home run as the Houston Astros averted a sweep with a 4-1 victory over the New York Yankees on Wednesday night at Minute Maid Park.

McCullers (6-4) allowed exactly one earned run for a fifth time in six starts. He surrendered five hits and walked two batters while recording 10 strikeouts for the third time in five starts this month.

Beginning with his strikeout of Carlos Beltran to close the third inning, McCullers' ensuing seven outs came on strikeouts, six of them swinging.

"He's been pretty good with his game plan," Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. "The fastball command has gotten better; he's learning when to use it. The least aggressive players in the league, one of them being (Yankees left fielder) Brett Gardner, are swinging at the first-pitch fastball trying to stay away from the breaking ball. That should tell you the word's out that he's going to throw 40-50 percent breaking balls. Still hard to hit."

After surrendering a leadoff homer to Brian McCann in the fourth inning, McCullers rallied to strike out the side, including Chase Headley and Aaron Hicks with two runners on base. McCullers followed by striking out the side again in the fifth, this time in order.

McCullers faced 25 batters and he threw 91 pitches, just 29 of them balls. Over his past six starts, McCullers has allowed eight earned runs with 50 strikeouts in 36 innings (2.00 ERA).

"Early on, I threw a lot of fastballs, and they were kind of pounding them into the ground," McCullers said. "After McCann hit that ball out in center, especially after a long inning like that, on a guy that doesn't swing a lot at the first pitch, I knew that they were probably going to try to get to the heater now.

"Started mixing it up, and J (catcher Jason Castro) and I were on the same page pretty much all night. The only time I had to shake was for maybe a different location or something, so it made it a lot easier on me."

Rasmus snapped an 0-for-29 skid with his 12th home run in the third inning off Yankees right-hander Masahiro Tanaka (7-3). The blast gave the slumping Rasmus just his second multi-RBI game of the month.

The Yankees (52-49) dropped three games behind Houston in the American League wild-card chase. The Astros (55-46) are one game behind the final AL playoff position.

Preston Tucker and Alex Bregman made Tanaka labor with one out in the second inning, working walks to set the table for Carlos Gomez, whose sharp single through the box shot past Tanaka and bounced by shortstop Didi Gregorius to drive in Tucker.

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Astros starting pitcher Lance McCullers (43) delivers a pitch against the New York Yankees during the first inning at Minute Maid Park. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

In the third inning. Marwin Gonzalez and Carlos Correa sandwiched singles around a Jose Altuve groundout. Correa plated Gonzalez, on third following a wild pitch, with his hit to left field,. Correa scored when Rasmus followed with his two-run shot to right.

"(Tanaka) had the one bad inning," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "He left the (splitter) up, he left a couple pitches up that inning. They made him work. He had a real easy first inning, and then after that, they really made him work. The one inning really did him in."

For just the second time since mid-May, Tanaka failed to work into the sixth inning. He allowed four runs on seven hits and two walks with four strikeouts over five innings.

"Sharpness with the balls," Tanaka said was his problem. "We came in on a good stretch winning a couple of games in a row. Wanted to go out there and obviously wanted to beat the opponent, but that didn't happen. So very disappointed about that."

NOTES: Yankees DH Carlos Beltran and 2B Starlin Castro were both in the starting lineup, the team's only two players to participate in all 13 games between the All-Star break and the scheduled off day Thursday. Castro entered Wednesday batting .302 with one home run and nine RBIs since the break, and he went 0-for-3. Beltran was batting .378 with two homers and six RBIs since the break before going 0-for-4 on Wednesday. ... Astros 3B Luis Valbuena met with a physician on Wednesday, but the extent of his right hamstring injury remains undetermined. Valbuena strained his hamstring running out of the box in the second inning Tuesday night and left the game. The injury is not considered serious enough to warrant a stint on the 15-day disabled list. ... Yankees DH Alex Rodriguez and Astros first base coach Rich Dauer celebrated birthdays on Wednesday, with Rodriguez turning 41 and Dauer 64. Rodriguez did not play.

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