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Groton Daily Independent
Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017 ~ Vol. 25 - No. 102 ~ 52 of 63
playoffs,” Keuchel said. “Yankee Stadium is a tough place to play and it was rockin’ these three games, but it’s going to be rockin’ on Friday for us.”
Sanchez hit his third postseason homer off Brad Peacock in the seventh to make it 5-0.
Despite beautiful weather in the Bronx, the Astros didn’t take batting practice on the eld. If they were hoping that might help their slumping hitters reset, it didn’t.
“One swing and we’ll be back where we need to be,” Bregman said. “We’re going home. We’ve got to ght back.”
The highest-scoring team in the majors this season, Houston is batting .147 in the series and Tanaka is a major reason. The normally reserved right-hander from Japan, who can opt out of his $155 million contract this winter, has been at the top of his game in October and showed rare emotion on the mound during this one.
He worked around a leadoff double in the second, when the Yankees — with a stingy Keuchel undoubtedly in mind — successfully played their in eld in with Yuli Gurriel on third and one out in a scoreless game.
Tanaka later spun around and shouted in excitement after striking out struggling table-setters George Springer and Josh Reddick with two on to end the fth.
“I love it. Those are the best guys. To see that, it gets me red up again,” Frazier said. “He’s been doing it all postseason. Just dominant, man. You see him out there, he talks to himself, he does all this crazy stuff and the next thing you know the ball just disappears on batters.”
Keeping the ball down with his slider and splitter, Tanaka struck out eight and walked one. Tommy Kahnle tossed two innings to nish the four-hitter.
Tanaka also beat the Indians 1-0 in the Division Series to save the Yankees’ season when they were down 0-2 in that best-of- ve playoff. After going 13-12 with a 4.74 ERA during an inconsistent season, he has a 0.90 ERA in three playoff starts.
“I feel like I’m just keeping it really simple,” Tanaka said through a translator. “You go out there and you ght and you empty the tank.”
MISTER OCTOBER
Wednesday marked the 40th anniversary of Reggie Jackson’s three-homer game at old Yankee Stadium in the 1977 World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
COMING UP EMPTY
The lowest team batting average in league championship series history was .155 for Minnesota during a three-game sweep by Baltimore in 1969.
UP NEXT
Astros: Verlander is 8-0 in eight outings for Houston since agreeing to a trade from Detroit, just minutes before the Aug. 31 deadline for postseason eligibility. The 2011 AL MVP is 3-0 with a 2.04 ERA in these playoffs, including a series-clinching victory in relief during the Division Series against Boston and his ve- hitter with 13 strikeouts to beat the Yankees on a season-high 124 pitches in Game 2. The right-hander is 10-5 with a 3.18 ERA in his postseason career.
Yankees: Severino gave up one run and two hits over four innings in Game 2 but was pulled as a precau- tion after only 62 pitches because manager Joe Girardi was concerned about the 23-year-old righty pitch- ing hurt, saying he didn’t look comfortable in his mechanics. By now, the Yankees are con dent he’s ne.
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More AP baseball: https://apnews.com/tag/MLBbaseball
Man convicted in plot to behead blogger over cartoon contest By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER, Associated Press writer
BOSTON (AP) — A man who authorities say fell under the in uence of the Islamic State group was convicted Wednesday of plotting to behead a conservative American blogger for organizing a Prophet Muhammad cartoon contest.
Jurors found David Wright guilty of all charges, including conspiracy to provide material support to a