Gerrit Cole, Astros Beat Luis Severino, Yankees 4-1 in Game 3 to Take ALCS Lead

Gerrit Cole twirled seven shutout innings as the Houston Astros took a 2-1 lead in the American League Championship Series by defeating the New York Yankees 4-1 on Tuesday at Yankee Stadium.

Jose Altuve and Josh Reddick each hit solo home runs for the Astros, who can clinch their second American League pennant in three years with two more wins in the best-of-seven series.

Gleyber Torres accounted for the Yankees' only run with an eighth-inning opposite-field homer.

Notable Performances

Astros SP Gerrit Cole: 7 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 5 BB, 7 K, W

Astros 2B Jose Altuve: 2-of-5, HR, 2 R, RBI

Astros RF Josh Reddick: 1-of-4, HR, R, RBI

Yankees SP Luis Severino: 4.1 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 6 K, L

Yankees 2B Gleyber Torres: 1-of-2, HR, R, RBI

Cole Grinds His Way to Win

For the third time in three postseason tries, Cole went deep into his start, allowed little to no damage and propelled Houston to victory.

For the first time in three postseason tries, Cole battled through his outing to finish victorious.

The right-hander didn't blow away the Yankees, striking out seven, walking five batters and allowing four hits. It marked the first time Cole didn't strike out 10 or more batters in 12 starts.

However, Cole still stymied the MLB's highest-scoring team in its own park despite not having his best stuff.

Cole allowed nine baserunners, including three in the first and two each in the second, fourth and fifth. Somehow, it didn't matter, as the right-hander wiggled out of a jam each time.

Nowhere was this more impressive when facing the always-dangerous Aaron Judge in the second inning with two runners on base.

Cole proceeded to serve a filthy arsenal to the slugger, tossing two sliders and a knuckle curve for the punchout:

Hard-hit balls in the fourth and fifth became inning-ending outs. Cole took over from there, sending the Yankees down in order for the sixth and seventh and striking out three in the process.

It's reached the point where the Astros are unbeatable when Cole takes the mound, as MLB Stats noted:

If anything, games like this one make Cole a more frightening pitcher than when he's striking out 10 or more batters. He entered as difficult an environment as possible without being in top form and still left without a blemish on the run column.

That's a scary proposition for anyone else Cole faces the rest of this postseason.

Missed Opportunities Mar Yankees' Night

The Yankees won 103 regular-season wins despite seeing 30 players land on the injured list.

As good as they've been, however, the ALCS has shown how little margin of error the Yankees have against the 107-55 Astros.

In turn, any missed opportunity—of which there were a few Tuesday—seems like a much larger blow than usual.

In the first inning, DJ LeMahieu and Aaron Judge led off with singles, giving the Yanks runners on first and second with no one out. The Bronx was ready to explode after Jose Altuve silenced the Yankee Stadium crowd with a solo shot earlier in the frame.

However, the Yankees were down to two outs in just three pitches after harmless pop flies from Brett Gardner and Edwin Encarnacion. After a walk to Gleyber Torres, shortstop Didi Gregorius flew out to end the threat.

Judge struck out to end the second-inning rally, but the Yanks had two more great chances in the fourth and fifth. They both finished harmlessly, though, as a sharp LeMahieu liner and a near-homer from Gregorius both found gloves.

The Yankees have held on by a thread over the last two games.

The team needed to build a bullpen bridge from the third inning onward on Sunday down 1-0 and facing ace Justin Verlander on the mound. That's a near-impossible task, especially on the road, and the Yankees eventually lost 3-2 in extra innings.

It was more of the same Tuesday. The Yankees fell behind 2-0 early, and once again, it felt like they were hanging on for dear life, facing another ace pitcher and hoping the bullpen could hang tough against a fierce Astros lineup.

They held on deep into the game, but the floodgates opened in the seventh when the Astros scored two on a wild pitch and sacrifice fly.

The good news for the Yankees is that they won't face Cole or co-ace Justin Verlander in Game 4. The bad news is that New York will need to find a way to win a game against one of them to have a shot at winning this series. The Yankees must convert on the few opportunities they may see to do that.

What's Next?

The Yankees are scheduled to host the Astros for Game 4 of the ALCS on Wednesday at 8:08 p.m. ET.

However, two inches of rain are scheduled to fall in New York City, according to Weather Underground, with the heaviest downpour occurring in the early evening.

Danny Abriano of SNY.tv outlined the scenarios in case the game is rained out. Game 4 would move to Thursday, and Game 5 would shift to Friday, which was originally scheduled to be an off day.

Games 6 and 7, if necessary, would still be in Houston on Saturday and Sunday.

If Game 4 is not postponed, the Yankees could go to Game 1 starter Masahiro Tanaka on three days' rest if they so choose. The Astros can call on their Game 1 pitcher, Zack Greinke, to do the same.