HOUSTON -- Charlie Morton and Lance McCullers combined on a three-hitter, Jose Altuve and Evan Gattis hit home runs and the Houston Astros reached the World Series for only the second time, blanking the New York Yankees 4-0 on Saturday night in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series.
Just four years removed from their third consecutive 100-loss season in 2013, the Astros shut down the Yankees on consecutive nights after dropping three in a row in New York.
Next up for the Astros is Game 1 of the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday night. Los Angeles is opening as a narrow favorite, but Houston aces Dallas Keuchel (Arkansas Razorbacks) and ALCS MVP Justin Verlander will have plenty of rest before the matchup begins at Dodger Stadium.
The only previous time the Astros made it this far, they were a National League team when they were swept by the Chicago White Sox in 2005.
Manager A.J. Hinch's club has a chance to win that elusive world first championship, while trying to boost a region still recovering from Hurricane Harvey.
"This city, they deserve this," McCullers said.
Clutch defensive plays by third baseman Alex Bregman and center fielder George Springer helped Houston improve to 6-0 at Minute Maid Park in these playoffs.
Morton bounced back from a loss in Game 3 to allow two hits over five scoreless innings. Starter-turned-postseason reliever McCullers limited the Yankees to 1 hit while striking out 6 over the final 4 innings. A noted curveballer, McCullers finished up with 24 consecutive breaking pitches to earn his first major league save.
Houston pitchers combined to limit Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez and their New York teammates to three runs in the four road games.
"I know people are going to talk about how we didn't win many games on the road. There were some other teams that haven't won many games on the road, either. We just happened to run into a very good team that just beat us," Yankees Manager Joe Girardi said.
CC Sabathia entered the game 10-0 with a 1.69 ERA in 13 starts this season after a Yankees loss. But he struggled with command and was removed with one out in the fourth inning.
Houston was up 2-0 in fifth when former Yankees catcher Brian McCann came through for the second consecutive game by hitting a two-run double after snapping an 0-for-20 skid with an ground-rule RBI double to give Houston its first run Friday night.
The Yankees, trying to reach the World Series for the first time since 2009, lost an elimination game for the first time this season after winning their first four in these playoffs. New York struggled on the road this postseason, with this loss dropping them to 1-6.
After going 0 for 5 with runners in scoring position through the first three innings, the Astros scored first with no outs in the fourth inning with a 405-foot home run by Gattis off Sabathia.
Altuve launched his home run off Tommy Kahnle into the right-field seats with one out in the fifth for his fifth this postseason. It took a while for him to see that it was going to clear the fence and held onto his bat until he was halfway to first base before flipping it and trotting around the bases as chants of "MVP" rained down.
Altuve finished 8 for 25 with 2 home runs and 4 RBI in the ALCS after hitting .533 with 3 home runs and 4 RBI in the American League division series against Boston.
Carlos Correa and Yuli Gurriel hit consecutive singles after that before Kahnle struck out Gattis. McCann's two-strike double, which rolled into the corner of right field, cleared the bases to push the lead to 4-0. Gurriel slid to avoid the tag and remained on his belly in a swimming pose at the plate for a few seconds after he was called safe.
Sabathia allowed 5 hits and 1 run while walking 3 in 3 1/3 innings.
Morton got into trouble in the fifth, and the Yankees had runners at the corners with one out. Bregman fielded a grounder hit by Todd Frazier and made a perfect throw home to allow McCann to tag Greg Bird and preserve Houston's lead. McCann held onto the ball despite Bird's cleat banging into his forearm. Chase Headley grounded out after that to end the inning.
Sports on 10/22/2017