Astros make Yanks pay after double play that got away
Yankees shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa (12) cannot handle the throw from second baseman Gleyber Torres (25) in the 7th inning in Game 4 of the ALCS at Yankee Stadium on Sunday, Oct 23, 2022. Credit: Newsday/Thomas A. Ferrara
Alex Bregman’s go-ahead RBI single looped over Gleyber Torres’ head in the seventh inning, and the second baseman’s shoulders sagged in defeat. For four straight games, the Astros were nothing short of inevitable, and Sunday’s seventh inning showed why: Torres had made a wide flip to second on a potential double-play ball against an opponent that leaves no mistake unpunished, and because of it, the Yankees’ season ended.
There are a bunch of reasons why the Yankees were swept in this ALCS, but the simplest version is that the Astros are a beast built to exploit weakness. And the Yankees, whose hitting and fielding failed them at the worst possible time, looked too far removed from the team that once made a farce out of the AL East race.
“They played better than us,” Aaron Judge said. “It’s as simple as it is. They came up with the big hits, the pitching staff did their job and they played great defense and that’s what it really comes down to.”
To wit, that play in the seventh inning of the Yankees' 6-5 loss at Yankee Stadium: The Astros were down by one with a runner on first and one out when Jeremy Pena grounded to Torres, who fielded it cleanly but flipped wide to Isiah Kiner-Falefa.
It was a failure in two parts: Torres, for the errant toss, and Kiner-Falefa, on what should have been a catchable ball. That, though, was enough for the Astros, who hit two soft RBI singles — Yordan Alvarez's against Jonathan Loaisiga and Bregman’s against Clay Holmes — to take the lead for good.
“It was too far away,” Kiner-Falefa said. “Tough situation.”
He added: “We went to almost blowing the lead in the East to getting back to eight and a half [lead] to win the division. We just weren’t able to bring that momentum into the postseason.”
All this, too, came a day after an outfield cross-up between Harrison Bader and Judge led Bader to drop the third out of the second inning of Game 3. Naturally, the Astros responded with a two-run homer in what became a 5-0 win.
And it’s not that the Yankees can’t field: They have four Gold Glove finalists on the team (though only two were playing Sunday) and were the best in the American League in both defensive efficiency and fielding runs above average. But then again, it’s not as if the Yankees couldn’t hit, either — until the Astros got to them.
The Yankees wore their desperation plainly, and hitters have routinely mentioned that they weren’t making the most of the Astros’ mistakes. They managed four runs and eight hits against Lance McCullers Jr. on Sunday but could have gotten more as McCullers seemed to mostly be working without that bread-and-butter curveball that feels specifically suited to shut down the Yankees. Instead, they stranded six runners in McCullers’ five innings, four in scoring position.
“We’ve got to keep working to get better,” Aaron Boone said. “Obviously, we had some key contributors missing that I think would have been difference-makers for us potentially. But then again, everyone has to deal with those things on some level. So it’s frustrating.”
Laura Albanese is a reporter, feature writer and columnist covering local professional sports teams; she began at Newsday in 2007 as an intern.
