Houston Has No Problem

One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh.

So it was on Tuesday night in New York, as the Houston Astros defeated the Yankees 3-0 in the American League’s wild-card postseason game. The Astros won in the postseason for the first time since 2005 and move on to the AL Divisional Series against the Kansas City Royals on Thursday.

“Unbelievable,” said Astros starting pitcher Dallas Keuchel, who shut the Yankees out for the first six innings. The Yankees were limited to three hits. Keuchel struck out seven, pitching on three days’ rest.

Keuchel worked 22 innings against the Yankees this season without giving up an earned run.

The Astros are young, with great pitching and the ability to hit the long ball. Home runs by Colby Rasmus and Carlos Gomez set the stage early, and Jose Altuve singled in the final run in the seventh inning.

The National League wild-card game is Wednesday night, matching the Chicago Cubs and Pittsburgh Pirates. Jake Arrieta (22-6) will start for the Cubs and Gerrit Cole (19-8) goes for the Pirates.

Then it’s back to the AL on Thursday. The Texas Rangers play the Toronto Blue Jays at 3:30 p.m ET and the Astros and Royals go in Kansas City at 7:30 p.m.
 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman .