Dallas Keuchel goes the distance in 4-0 win over Yankees

Keuchel shines through nine

After dropping the two out of three to the Los Angeles Angels over the last couple days, the Houston Astros received a fantastic outing from starting pitcher, Dallas Keuchel in the 4-0 shutout of the New York Yankees Thursday afternoon.

Now, for those who tend to go with the flow or haven’t been around long enough – Keuchel became only the sixth pitcher in big league history to work a complete game while striking out 12 batters. Other guys who accomplished this rare feat include Chris Carpenter, Roger Clemens, Chuck Finley, and Bartolo Colon.

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Houston grabbed the lead in the home half of the second inning on an RBI double by outfielder Preston Tucker who would plate Colby Rasmus and found himself advancing to third base on the throw.

Luis Valbuena opened up the frame, getting hit by starting pitcher Adam Warren but found himself jogging back to the dugout after Rasmus grounded into a force out at second.

Marwin Gonzalez, who filled in for first baseman Chris Carter, struck out swinging in a four-pitch at-bat to retire the side. Which meant it was time for Houston’s 27-year-old southpaw to get back to work.

There were only two players in New York’s lineup who had two hits – those men being outfielder Chris Young and Carlos Beltran who combined 4-for-8 with one strikeout.

Keuchel (9-3, 2.17 ERA) held this deadly lineup to just four hits, one walk and as I mentioned at the beginning of the article, 12 strikeouts. The man who’s currently chasing Barry Bonds and that All-Time home run record, Alex Rodriguez, accounted for three strikeouts of his own as he finished the game 1-for-4 at the plate. 

Former San Diego Padres third baseman, Chase Headley matched A-Rod in strikeouts but failed to record a hit.

With the Astros leading 2-0 into the bottom of the sixth, designated hitter Evan Gattis made it 3-0 on an RBI single to center field, allowing Jose Altuve to come around and score.

Gattis followed up that at-bat with an RBI double on a sharp line drive to Jose Pirela out in left field, scoring Altuve yet again but Valbuena would be thrown out at home plate trying to score himself. This resulted in Gattis trotting over to third base with two outs in the eighth inning.

Rodriguez got things going for the Bronx Bombers during the top half of the ninth inning, sending a pitch to Rasmus in center field for his first hit of the contest. Mark Teixeira followed that up with a walk and later advanced to second on the second hit of the inning courtesy of Beltran which loaded up the bases.

Valbuena fielded a ground ball that was hit by Pirela and tossed it over to Altuve to record the third and final out, handing Keuchel his second complete game of the season.

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