Verlander strikes out 11 to lead Astros past Yankees in ALCS opener

Justin Verlander struck out 11 in six strong innings and Yuli Gurriel, Chas McCormick and Jeremy Peña all homered to power the Astros to a 4-2 win over the New York Yankees in their AL Championship Series opener Wednesday night in Houston.

The Astros are in their sixth consecutive ALCS, looking to reach the World Series for the fourth time in that span, against a New York team in the ALCS for the first time since being eliminated by Houston in 2019.

The game was tied one-all in the sixth when Gurriel connected off reliever Clarke Schmidt on a solo shot to the seats in left field to put Houston on top. Two batters later, McCormick sent a sinker from Schmidt into right field to make it 3-1.

Peña, whose 18th-inning home run completed a sweep of the Mariners in the ALDS, belted a homer off Frankie Montas to start the seventh and extend the lead to 4-1. Montas was pitching for the first time since Sept. 16 because of a shoulder injury that kept him off the Division Series roster.

Anthony Rizzo homered off Rafael Montero with two outs in the eighth to get the Yankees within two. Giancarlo Stanton singled before Josh Donaldson walked to spur Astros manager Dusty Baker to bring in closer Ryan Pressly.

He struck out Matt Carpenter to end the inning and pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to get the four-out save.

Padres rally past Phillies

Brandon Drury hit a go-ahead, two-run single during a five-run rally in the fifth inning and the San Diego Padres stunned Aaron Nola and the Philadelphia Phillies 8-5 earlier on Wednesday to tie their all-wild card NL Championship Series at one game apiece.

The outburst in San Diego started with Padres catcher Austin Nola hitting an RBI single off his younger brother that brought the sellout, rally towel-twirling crowd of 44,607 at Petco Park to life. Three innings earlier, the Phillies had taken a 4-0 lead with a rally that included bloop hits, a sun-aided double on a gorgeous, 92-degree afternoon and some shoddy Padres defence.

But just as they did Saturday night in eliminating the 111-win Los Angeles Dodgers, the Padres were spurred by the bottom of their lineup in a big comeback.

Drury and Josh Bell hit back-to-back homers for the Padres, and Manny Machado went deep late.

The series shifts to Philadelphia for three games starting with Game 3 on Friday night. The Phillies, trying to reach their first World Series since 2009, outscored Atlanta 17-4 in two home Division Series games last weekend to eliminate the defending World Series champion.

The Padres, playing in their first NLCS since 1998, appeared to be in deep trouble after Snell threw 37 pitches in the Phillies' four-run second.

San Diego began its comeback with homers on consecutive pitches by Drury and Bell to open the bottom of the inning. Drury lined a shot to left field and Bell lifted a fly ball deep to right that stayed just fair.

Bell and Juan Soto, who had an RBI double in the fifth, were obtained in a blockbuster trade with Washington on Aug. 2, the same day the Padres got Drury from Cincinnati.