MAJOR LEAGUE WILD-CARD PLAYOFF GAMES: American League

Baffled by the beard

Dallas Keuchel (right) celebrates with teammates Luke Gregerson (left) and Carlos Gomez after the Houston Astros’ 3-0 victory over the New York Yankees on Tuesday night in the American League wild-card game at Yankee Stadium. Keuchel (Arkansas Razorbacks) allowed 3 singles and struck out 7 over 6 scoreless innings.
Dallas Keuchel (right) celebrates with teammates Luke Gregerson (left) and Carlos Gomez after the Houston Astros’ 3-0 victory over the New York Yankees on Tuesday night in the American League wild-card game at Yankee Stadium. Keuchel (Arkansas Razorbacks) allowed 3 singles and struck out 7 over 6 scoreless innings.

ASTROS 3, YANKEES 0

NEW YORK -- Dallas Keuchel and the Houston Astros defied expectations all season long. Facing his biggest test yet, the bearded ace beat the odds and the Yankees again.

photo

AP

Houston pitcher Dallas Keuchel (Arkansas Razorbacks) allowed 3 hits with 1 walk and 7 strikeouts in 6 innings.

Pitching on three days' rest for the first time in his career, Keuchel (Arkansas Razorbacks) baffled New York for six innings of three-hit ball. Colby Rasmus and Carlos Gomez homered, and the Astros won 3-0 on Tuesday night in the American League wild-card game.

AL postseason glance

WILD CARD

TUESDAY’S GAME

Houston 3, New York 0

DIVISION SERIES

Best-of-5; x-if necessary

All times Central

KANSAS CITY VS. HOUSTON

THURSDAY’S GAME

Houston at Kansas City (Ventura 13-8), 6:37 or 7:07 p.m. (FS1)

FRIDAY’S GAME

Houston at Kansas City (Cueto 4-7), 2:45 p.m. (FS1)

SUNDAY’S GAME

Kansas City (Volquez 13-9) at Houston, 3:10 p.m. (MLBN)

MONDAY, OCT. 12

x-Kansas City at Houston, TBA (FOX or FS1)

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 14

x-Houston at Kansas City, TBA (FOX or FS1)

TORONTO VS. TEXAS

THURSDAY’S GAME

Texas (Gallardo 13-11) at Toronto (Price 18-5), 2:37 or 3:07 p.m. (FS1)

FRIDAY’S GAME

Texas (Hamels 7-1) at Toronto, 11:45 a.m. (MLBN)

SUNDAY’S GAME

Toronto at Texas (Lewis 17-9), 7:10 p.m. (FS1)

MONDAY, OCT. 12

x-Toronto at Texas (Holland 4-3), (FOX or FS1)

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 14

x-Texas at Toronto (FOX or FS1)

The orange-clad Astros, who secured their spot in this winner-take-all game on the last day of the regular season, advanced to the American League Division Series. They will face the defending AL champion Kansas City Royals, starting Thursday night in Kansas City.

"To come to Yankee Stadium and play that well was truly remarkable," said Keuchel, the AL's only 20-game winner.

Aggressive from the start in their initial playoff appearance as an American League club -- and first since being swept by the White Sox in the 2005 World Series -- the Astros came out swinging against Masahiro Tanaka in front of a revved-up Yankee Stadium crowd.

Rasmus sent Tanaka's first pitch of the second inning soaring into deep right field. Gomez, who only had five plate appearances after missing nearly two weeks with a strained chest muscle in mid-September, connected on the first offering of the fourth.

"That really settled me down, and that's who we are," Keuchel said. "We hit a lot of home runs, pitch well and play defense."

AL hits leader Jose Altuve had an RBI single off All-Star reliever Dellin Betances in the seventh.

Reliever Tony Sipp walked one, and Will Harris and Luke Gregerson were perfect for an inning to finish the three-hitter. The boos from the 50,113 fans in the crowd grew with each out as Gregerson closed for a save.

The Astros raced to an area between first and second after Brian McCann grounded out to end it and jumped up and down in a big scrum. As he was coming off the field, Keuchel pumped his fists toward a group of cheering Astros supporters in orange shirts -- and a few in big black beards -- behind the visiting dugout.

It was a celebration a few years in the making. The Astros had averaged 104 losses in their previous four seasons.

"Now we get to go to Kansas City. It's going to be some grind-it-out baseball," Rasmus said. "We have to come in there the way we came in tonight. It's going to be fun."

In a matchup of two teams that surprised many by building big division leads before wasting them late, the upstart Astros, just two years removed from a 111-loss season, looked the more comfortable team in the October limelight. They clowned around during pregame introductions, then stayed loose the whole game.

The Yankees lost six of seven to close the regular season. And despite all the talk of a playoff reset for the struggling lineup, they went bust against a new nemesis in their first -- and only -- postseason game of the post-Derek Jeter era.

"Just didn't get it done," Manager Joe Girardi said.

Fans taunted the 27-year-old Keuchel the moment he walked to the outfield for warmups. Then he toyed with the Yankees from the first batter, striking out Brett Gardner looking.

"I felt like I had never been on the mound before with the adrenaline I had," Keuchel said.

Gardner, Brian McCann, Chris Young and Girardi all had words with plate umpire Eric Cooper as Keuchel cruised through New York's lineup for the third time this season.

The AL Cy Young Award contender held the Yankees scoreless for 16 innings in two regular-season starts. On this much bigger stage, the left-hander was just as confounding, dropping his slider and two-seam fastball seemingly wherever he wanted in striking out seven as nearly all his teammates and coaches stood along the dugout railing for every pitch.

When he gave up two singles in the sixth -- bringing the crowd to its feet with Alex Rodriguez stepping into the batter's box -- Manager A.J. Hinch took a walk to the mound to give Keuchel a breather. Keuchel responded by getting A-Rod to fly out to center field for his final out.

Keuchel is the first starter with a scoreless postseason start on three days' rest since Josh Beckett pitched a shutout for the Marlins at Yankee Stadium in the clinching Game 6 of the 2003 World Series.

Tanaka struggled with the long ball all season, giving up 25 home runs in 24 starts this year. He only allowed 2 more hits in 5 innings but matched a season high with 3 walks. He struck out three.

Sports on 10/07/2015

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