At Yankee Stadium, the fourth game remained scoreless in the first five innings, which were a pitching-duel between Sonny Gray and Lance McCullers.
Houston Astros got its first baserunner in the top of the first inning when José Altuve walked with two outs, but he stranded on first base.
The Astros then also got the first basehit of the evening when Carlos Beltrán doubled with two outs in the second, but he also was left behind.
Houston got on base again in the third at bat when lead-off hitter Brian McCann was hit by a pitch.
Hereafter, McCann, who played for the Yankees in 2014-2016, was forced out on a grounder by George Springer.
McCann was traded to Houston by the Yankees in November last year.
A double play ended the third Houston-at bat.
New York got on base for the first time in the bottom of the third inning.
Houston-starter Lance McCullers retired the first seven hitters he faced, but then gave up an one-out single to Todd Frazier in the third.
He moved into scoring position on a grounder by Austin Romine, then another grounder ended the inning.
In the top of the fourth inning, Houston got its second runner in scoring position.
With one out, Carlos Correa reached on an error by second baseman Starlin Castro and moved to second base on a wild pitch moments later.
But hereafter, Yankee-starter Sonny Gray struckout Yulieski Gurriel and saw Alex Bregman flyout to end the at bat.
A weird situation happened in the bottom of the fourth inning.
Aaron Judge led off with a walk, then Didi Gregorius lined out to centerfielder George Springer.
Hereafter, Gary Sánchez flied out in short rightfield to rightfielder Josh Reddick.
Judge had left on contact and already had reached second base, without picking up the ball properly.
When the ball was caught, he had to run back to first base quickly to beat the throw from Reddick to first baseman Yulieski Gurriel.
What followed was an out-call, a challenge, a safe-call, an appeal and a caught stealing!
When Judge slid into first base, he was called out by 1B Umpire Jerry Meals, which led to a challenge.
While the replays were reviewed, it also became clear that Judge never had touched second base again on his way back to first base, which he had to do, since he had passed second base after the catch was made.
With that, Judge would have been ruled out for running the bases in the wrong order.
After the review, the out-call on first base was overturned, as Judge indeed had touched the base somewhat earlier before the throw from rightfield had arrived.
When the game continued, pitcher Lance McCullers stepped off the plate to throw the ball to short stop Carlos Correa to appeal that Judge never had touched second base on his way back.
When McCullers made the throw, Judge took off from first base and slid into second base, where he was tagged out by Correa.
That made it a steal-attempt and it was officially scored as a caught stealing that ended the inning.
However, Judge would have been out anyway because of the appeal-play for not touching second base, despite the fact that he was ruled safe at first base and even when he would have reached second base safely.
The 'not-touching-base' situation at second base happened before he returned at first base, so he would never have been able to steal second base, which he tried to do during the appeal-play.
On the other hand, by tagging the runner instead on standing on second base for the appeal, Correa now went for the sure out, as of course, an appeal play needs an umpires judgement call.
And while it was clear that Judge never had touched second base, and while it was clear that 2B Umpire Jim Reynolds was looking into the action (and must have seen it), a safe call always would have been a possibility after the appeal had been completed.
...Didi Gregorius was 2-for-4 with a triple and scored two runs...
...On the photo, he is hitting for the Netherlands...
...during the World Baseball Classic in March...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
The fifth inning also remained scoreless.
Gray retired the side in the top half, McCullers was supported with a double play in the bottom half.
Houston then struck with three runs in the top of the sixth to open the score.
George Springer led off with a walk and next hitter Josh Reddick was awarded first base on catcher's interference.
That was followed by a pitching change, as David Robertson took over from Sonny Gray.
Robertson got the bases loaded when he walked José Altuve, but then struckout Carlos Correa.
Hereafter, 33-year old rookie Yulieski Gurriel cleared the bases with a 3-run double.
While the three runners scored, Gurriel overran second base and got into a rundown, then was tagged out by rightfielder (!) Aaron Judge near the short stop-area in a play that went 7-6-5-9.
A grounder then closed the Houston-at bat, but the team led 3-0.
Houston added a run in the seventh inning off of new pitcher Chad Green.
With one out, Marwin Gonzalez doubled and scored when second baseman Starlin Castro made his second error in the game on a grounder by Brian McCann, which made it a 4-0 score.
The Yankees, who were retired in order in the sixth, got back into the game in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Aaron Judge drove the ball into deep centerfield for a lead-off homerun to score the first Yankee-run off of Lance McCullers, who had thrown six solid inings in which he given up only one basehit.
Chris Devenski took over the pitching but then Didi Gregorius drilled the ball into centerfield for a triple and scored the next run on a sacrifice fly by Gary Sánchez.
When Devenski walked next hitter Greg Bird, another pitching change followed.
Joe Musgrove took over to face Starlin Castro, but he grounded out after a great play by third baseman Alex Bregman.
The inning ended when Aaron Hicks flied out, but the Yankees had cut the deficit in half.
After Chad Green had retired the side in the top of the eighth, the Yankees struck, rallied for four runs and took a 6-4 lead!
Todd Frazier led off with a single, then pinch-hitter Chase Headley singled into leftfield.
Frazier moved to third base, then Headley slipped after rounding first base while the ball was thrown to the short stop.
As Headley was halfway, the ball was relayed to first base, which could have been the beginning of a rundown.
Instead of returning to first base, Headley continued to second base, which he reached in a close play.
A challenge followed, but the call was upheld, as Headley's hand touched the base just before the tag of second baseman José Altuve.
With runners on second and third base, Ken Giles was brought in as new pitcher.
He got a grounder from Brett Gardner, but that brought in Frazier and narrowed the deficit to 4-3.
Jacoby Ellsbury was then inserted as pinch-runner for Headley (who had advanced to third base) and he scored when Aaron Judge followed with a double, making it a 4-4 score.
A discussion followed whether or not a fan interfered with the ball in leftfield on Judge's hit.
When the ball approached, a fan leaded over the wall trying the catch the ball and touched it.
Instead of the ball jumping back from the wall, it now dropped downward.
No challenge followed, as the umpires explained that Judge would have reached second base also when the fan had not touched the ball.
With Judge on second base, Didi Gregorius singled through the leftside to put runners on first and third base.
Gary Sánchez then drove the ball into centerfield for a double and that brought in both Judge and Gregorius to give the Yankees a 6-4 lead.
With first base open, Greg Bird was walked intentionally and then Luke Gregerson became the new pitcher for the Astros.
He got the bases loaded when he walked Starlin Castro, but a force out at the plate and a grounder then ended the inning.
However, the Yankees had turned the game their way!
In the top of the ninth, closer Aroldis Chapman took the mound for the Yankees and retired the side, striking out the first two hitters, to end the game.
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Yankees come from behind to win and even ALCS
THE BRONX, NEW YORK CITY, New York (USA) -
New York Yankees came from behind to win 6-4 against Houston Astros on Tuesday-evening (October 17) in Game 4 of the best-of-seven American League Championship Series.
With the win, the Yankees evened the Series at 2-2 and force at least a sixth game.
Houston won the first two games on Friday and Saturday with a small 2-1 score.
On Monday, New York forced a fifth game by winning convincingly with an 8-1 score.
Game 5 of the Series will be played on Wednesday in The Bronx, New York.
In Tuesday's game, New York trailed 4-0 halfway the seventh inning, then scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh and rallied for four runs in the eighth to turn the game its way.
It also was a game with a rare situation in which a call was reversed after a challenge, but eventually led to an out after all.
It was a situation for the rule buffs.
Aaron Judge made a baserunning-mistake, then was ruled safe at first base after a challenge, but had failed to re-touch second base after returning to first base after a catch, which then led to an appeal-play-turned-caught-stealing.
Judge also homered, but also struckout another time, giving him a total of 22 strikeouts so far this postseason.
Didi Gregorius was 2-for-4 with a triple and scored two runs for the Yankees.