Savages in the box go bust with slew of strikeouts

HOUSTON (AP) — A record-setting season by Savages in the Box ended with a string of strikeouts and another October bust for the New York Yankees.

For the first time since the 1910s, the 27-time champions have gone through an entire calendar decade without even making it to a World Series.

An AL Championship Series of squandered chances ended when Aroldis Chapman allowed José Altuve's pennant-winning, two-run homer in the ninth inning Saturday night that gave the Houston Astros a 6-4 win and the pennant in six games.

"No matter how games we won in the regular season or what else we did, the season's a failure," Aaron Judge said. "I just think about the missed opportunities."

Altuve became only the second player to eliminate the Yankees in the postseason with a walk-off homer, the first since Bill Mazeroski's homer off Bill Terry won Game 7 of the 1960 World Series for Pittsburgh.

"It will serve us well going forward when we get to the top of the mountain," Yankees manager Aaron Boone said.

Chapman, pitching perhaps his final game for the Yankees, said he wanted to get ahead with a slider and never thought about pitching around Altuve.

"It didn't land in the spot where I wanted, and he took full advantage of that," Chapman said through a translator. "It doesn't matter if it's the best or the worst batter, I'm always going to go out there and challenge that hitter. Throughout my career, I've faced everybody the same way."

When the ball went over the wall, Chapman said "for that split second, I couldn't believe it."

After a regular season with 306 homers, the Yankees got two more to overcome a 3-0, first-inning deficit, a solo shot by Gio Urshela and DJ LeMahieu's two-run drive off Roberto Osuna in the ninth.

"Extremely disappointing. We set out to win the whole...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/Savages-in-the-box-go-bust-with-slew-of-strikeouts-14547858.php