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The Astros began this series by thoroughly dominating the Yankees pitching-wise: New York scored just two runs on 10 hits total in the first two games, and tonight’s starter, Justin Verlander, threw a rare complete game. The Astros didn’t score much either: four runs on 11 hits, but that was enough for a 2-0 series lead.
The Yankees then thoroughly dominated Games 3, 4 and 5, outscoring the Astros 19-5 at Yankee Stadium.
This series has the feel of one where the home team wins every game. We’ll see if that turns out to be the case. The Astros certainly have the right guy on the mound to possibly force a decisive Game 7 Saturday.
Will the @Yankees return to the #WorldSeries or will the @Astros force a Game 7? Here are the #ALCS Game 6 lineups: https://t.co/hycrFm2onu pic.twitter.com/CJjqLtysyW
— MLB Lineups (@mlblineups) October 20, 2017
Justin Verlander vs. Luis Severino
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Justin Verlander was awesome in Game 2, throwing a complete game and allowing just one run on five hits, with 124 pitches. Just five games during the entire regular season featured a pitcher throwing more pitches than that, but Verlander is a throwback to seasons past. If the Astros need him to throw that many again tonight, he’ll do it.
Luis Severino threw only four innings in Game 2, but allowed just two hits and one run. Then relievers Tommy Kahnle and David Robertson threw two scoreless innings each until the Astros broke through on Aroldis Chapman to win the game.
Just when you expect another pitchers’ duel is usually when you don’t get one, but I’d think pitchers will dominate this matchup.
Tonight’s game is on FS1. Announcers: Joe Buck, John Smoltz, Tom Verducci and Ken Rosenthal.
Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.
MLB.com Gameday (classic mode)
(Note: Going forward, I am going to link to the “classic” Gameday here because MLB.com broke the links I used to use to get to their “new” Gameday. If you click on this link, you can then click on “New Gameday” at the bottom of the page to get to the updated version. Note that the “classic” Gameday won’t load until just before game time.)
Baseball-reference.com game preview
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This is the only thread for today’s game. Enjoy, and discuss amongst yourselves.