Astros shut out Yankees to take 3-0 stranglehold in ALCS

The Houston Astros kept rolling Saturday, beating the New York Yankees 5-0 at Yankee Stadium to take a 3-0 stranglehold in the American League Championship Series.

Houston can sweep the Yankees and clinch its second consecutive AL pennant, and fourth since 2017, on Sunday.

Astros starter Cristian Javier, who was part of a combined no-hitter in the Bronx in June, continued his mastery of the Yankees with 5 1/3 innings of one-hit ball. Center fielder Chas McCormick provided all the offense Houston would need with a two-run homer off Gerrit Cole in the second, moments after his Yankees counterpart Harrison Bader misplayed a routine fly ball. Christian Vazquez also drove in two runs.

The Astros have turned into a freight train during this postseason run. Dusty Baker's club has yet to lose in the playoffs, and their six consecutive victories now tie the third-longest win streak to start a postseason, according to Sarah Langs of MLB.com.

Only one team, the 1976 Cincinnati Reds, has gone through the playoffs undefeated in the divisional era (since 1969). Two clubs, the 1999 Yankees and 2005 Chicago White Sox, lost just once en route to winning the World Series.

Meanwhile, the Yankees' postseason offensive woes continued in the shutout loss. New York's .161 team batting average is the lowest in playoff history through a club's first eight postseason games, per Sportsnet Stats.

New York faces a daunting task to keep its season alive, as only one MLB team - the 2004 Boston Red Sox - has erased an 0-3 deficit to win a postseason series. The Astros nearly pulled it off two years ago but lost Game 7 of the 2020 ALCS.

"We've got to find a way right now," Yankees manager Aaron Boone said, according to SNY. "We know what we're up against. We know what they're capable of."