There’s just no stopping the Houston Astros right now. They continued their strong start to the season with a 5-1 victory over the Yankees on Friday. It was the fifth consecutive win for the Astros who at 25-11, surpassed the 1972 team’s 24-12 start for the best opening to a season. Houston’s pitching has been dominant in this series with the Astros allowing just three runs to the Bronx Bombers in the first two games.
The pressure now is on Mike Fiers to continue the stellar work of the Houston rotation. Fiers, however, has struggled mightily this season, surrendering an AL-leading 14 homers this campaign. His ERA of 4.88 is the worst in the Astros’ rotation. Fiers showed some fight, though, in his last start against the Angels, picking up the victory despite surrendering two early home runs. He allowed three runs on four hits in that contest.
Due to Saturday’s postponement, Derek Jeter’s jersey retirement ceremony on Sunday will be sandwiched by two Astros-Yankees games. The Bronx Bombers will look to make their former captain proud as they try to arrest an alarming three-game losing skid. So what’s ailing the Yankees nowadays? Their bats have fallen silent with the Yankees hitting just .204 (20-for-98) with 34 strikeouts in the last three games. New York is 3-for-24 with runners in scoring position during that span. The good news for the Yanks is that they will face Fiers next. They tagged him for five runs and nine hits in just five innings in New York’s 8-5 victory against Houston last April 7, 2016.
Starting for New York in Game 1 of Sunday’s doubleheader is Luis Severino (2-2, 3.40 ERA). He pitched the first seven innings of the 18-inning game against the Chicago Cubs, surrendering only one run. Severino’s gone at least seven innings in four of his last six starts. The right-hander has a 0.908 WHIP and has struck out 45 and walked seven this season. Sunday will be his first-ever start against Houston. Severino hurled two scoreless innings in Houston last July in relief of Masahiro Tanaka and struck out three.
