Houston Astros ace Dallas Keuchel shut down the New York Yankees yet again and paved the way towards a 3-2 win in the series opener.

  • Houston Astros: 3 (24-11)
  • New York Yankees: 2 (21-11)
  • American League, FINAL, Box Score
  • Yankee Stadium, Bronx, NY

The New York Yankees were unable to win the first game of their four-game set with the Houston Astros on Thursday night, as Dallas Keuchel’s nine strikeouts over six innings was too much to overcome.



Houston got the party started early off Michael Pineda when Carlos Correa slapped his fifth home run of the season to right field with Josh Reddick aboard to throw his squad up 2-0.

Pineda would settle down and retire 10 of the next 11 hitters while striking six, but ran into trouble in the top of the fifth when Norichika Aoki stole second with two outs following a fielder’s choice. Right after a successful attempt off the right arm of catcher Gary Sanchez, George Springer lined a base hit to center field to score Aoki from second.

It was the 20th RBI for Springer on the season and it gave the Astros a 3-0 lead.

New York made things interesting off Keuchel in the very next frame, as they loaded the bases with just one out, but the rally wouldn’t amount to much. Chris Carter struck out after Aaron Hicks walked to put runners at each base and although Jacoby Ellsbury‘s 28th catcher’s interference broke the shutout, Gary Sanchez followed with a soft ground out to third to end the threat.



After a three strikeout sixth for Keuchel, he finished his day with nine strikeouts over six full innings of work while only allowing one earned run on five hits. His ERA against the Yankees has now dropped to 1.41 in six career starts.

Chris Devenski then notched two hitless frames in the seventh and eighth to set up closer Ken Giles for his 10th save of the season — after Jacoby Ellsbury (the tiring run)was gunned down by left Marisnik on a Sanchez single to end the contest. The Astros (24-11) have now leapfrogged the Yankees (21-11) as the best team in the American League.

March Towards CI History: 

When Ellsbury reached and drove in a run via catcher’s interference in the bottom of the fifth, it brought him to 28 career catcher’s interferences, one shy of Pete Rose‘s (29) all-time record.

The Yankees’ centerfielder also the single-season leader, with 12 in 2016, and is one of six players — Ben Geraghty (1936), Pat Corrales (1965, twice), Dan Meyer (1977), Bob Stinson (1979), David Murphy (2010) and Ellsbury (2015) — to reach in this fashion twice in one contest.

This Day In Yankees History: 

On May 11, 1903, John Ganzel slapped an inside the park home run in the fifth inning of a Highlanders’ 8-2 victory at Detroit’s Bennett Park against the Tigers for the first home run in Yankees franchise history.

What’s Next: 

The Yankees and Astros will play the second game of a four-game set on Friday night at Yankee Stadium and 24-year-old left-hander Jordan Montgomery will look to continue his impressive rookie season.

He will make his sixth start of the season on Friday, coming off a start on Saturday at Wrigley Field where he earned his second big league win. Montgomery surrendered three runs (two earned) over 6.2 innings of work while striking out three.



Montgomery is set to deliver the first pitch at 7:05 p.m. ET. WPIX will televise the contest while WFAN 660/101.9 FM will have the call on the radio.