For the third straight game, Yankee Stadium was electric, and so was the starting pitching. Masahiro Tanaka froze a potent Houston Astros lineup in a 5-0 Game 5 victory. The Yankees now take a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series.
The autumn has belonged to Masahiro Tanaka. Since striking out 15 Blue Jays in the final series of the regular season, Tanaka’s been nearly untouchable, shutting down prodigious Cleveland and Astros lineups in his first two postseason starts. Tonight, he was as good as ever, throwing seven innings of shutout ball.
Tanaka owned the bottom of the zone, with eight strikeouts and ten ground ball outs.