Bregman Booms, Valdez Goes Quality as Houston Astros Take Game 2 of the ALCS

Alex Bregman's three-run home run was also his 14th in the postseason, the most by any third baseman in MLB history.

The roof was open, the wind was blowing. And in Game 2 of the American League Championship Series, the Houston Astros were cruising, edging out the New York Yankees, 3-2. 

The Astros haven't capitalize with runners in scoring position. In fact, they've played more game than collected hits with runners in the scenario. And in the second frame, that issue looked to have continued. 

Yankees starting pitcher Luis Severino walked Kyle Tucker and yielded a single to Yuli Gurriel with one out, but the Astros couldn't make anything of it. Aledmys Díaz and Chas McCormick were retired in back-to-back at-bats.

But the following frame, Alex Bregman broke Houston out of its shell. The third baseman clubbed a wall-scraping home run into the Crawford Boxes, one that held an expected batting average of .040.

The inning looked the same as the one prior. Martín Maldonado and Jeremy Peña reached before Yordan Álvarez stepped in with one out. The lefty slapped a ground ball to right side, but Anthony Rizzo could only find Peña at second. And with runners at the corners, Bregman sent a three-run shot into the first row of the left field seating.

Houston Astros Starting Pitcher Framber Valdez / Erik Williams-USA TODAY Sports

It wasn't so easy for Framber Valdez though. Much like his regular season, the lefty tossed a quality start, but his defense cost the Astros two runs in the fourth inning. Valdez committed a double error with a runner on first base, bobbling a come-back grounder and throwing an off-target ball to Gurriel at first. 

A possible double play opportunity turned into two runs for New York. Rizzo grounded out to the right side, bringing home Aaron Judge, and then Gleyber Torres singled home Giancarlo Stanton to put the Yankees within one run.

Valdez climbed back in the saddle after his errant fourth though. The lefty stretched into the seventh inning, yielding four hits to his nine strikeouts and retiring 11 of the last 12 batters he faced. Valdez closed his start striking out the side in the seventh inning and facing the minimum in four frames.

Bryan Abreu took the eighth inning from Valdez. After inducing a fly out to Oswaldo Cabrera, the righty walked Harrison Bader — one of the hottest hitters in October. Then came Aaron Judge. The AL MVP shot a towering fly ball to right field, pulling Kyle Tucker into the wall to nab the second out of the inning. 

The fly out would've been a home run in one park: Yankee Stadium. An almost two-run home run with a .910 xBA only advanced Bader to second base. And following Judge was the also dangerous Stanton.

Falling behind in the count with three consecutive balls, Abreu lucked out on a borderline strike. He followed with a 99 mph fastball to catch Stanton whiffing before freezing the right-handed giant in his shoes at 98.8 mph.

Escaping the eighth, Abreu handed the keys to Ryan Pressly for the ninth — his second save opportunity in the series. Pressly, on 22 pitches, struck out the side, adding to Houston's 13 total punch outs on the night to close out Game 2.

Following an off day Friday, the Astros and the Yankees return to action for Game 3 at 4:07 p.m. Saturday at Yankee Stadium. Houston has yet to name a starting pitcher to counter Gerrit Cole.

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5. Grading the Houston Astros MLB Trade Deadline Transactions
6. Jeremy Peña isn't Competing for Rookie of the Year, And That's a Good Thing
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