Yankees Highlights: Gleyber Torres goes deep but Gerrit Cole shuts down the Bombers

Well, it sure is good the Yankees grabbed Game One. The Yankees entered the ALCS knowing that Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole loomed in the second and third games of this series, and that pair of aces has lived up to its billing. The Yankees’ offense has scored just three runs across the past games, and they trail the series by two games to one after tonight’s 4-1 loss.

Winner of the Game

Relievers not named Adam Ottavino? Outside of the currently-erratic right-handed setup man, the Yankees’ bullpen continued to earn their money. Both Tommy Kahnle and Chad Green looked excellent covering the middle innings, and even Luis Cessa got in on the fun with two scoreless innings.

Also, Gleyber Torres did something good again:

In truth, the pickings were slim here. Gerrit Cole will do that.

Loser of the Game

Relievers named Adam Ottavino, and also the Yankees’ knack for timely hits. Ottavino came on to start the seventh and allowed a walk and hit before getting removed without recording an out. That led to a pair of back-breaking runs that doubled Houston’s lead. Meanwhile, the Yankees’ offense could not come up with a knock in a big spot to save their lives. They really did a fine job keeping traffic on the bases against the nightmare that is Cole, but they just came up short time and again whenever they manufactured an opportunity to score. Four times in the first five innings did they put multiple runners on against Cole, but he slipped away en route to seven shutout innings.

Chart

FanGraphs

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