Yankees on brink of World Series: Tanaka blanks Astros in Game 5 for 3-2 ALCS lead

NEW YORK – Breaking down Game 5 of the AL Championship Series between the Houston Astros and New York Yankees from Yankee Stadium:

Yankees 5, Astros 0: Yankees lead series 3-2.

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The game: Masahiro Tanaka was masterful on the mound over six innings of work, extending the Astros’ hitting woes for yet another game – and completing a three-game sweep at Yankee Stadium to put New York in position to claim a record 41st American League pennant.

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The Astros led the majors in runs, on-base percentage and slugging during the regular season, but entered Game 5 with one home run and a slash line of .153/.254/.220.

Tanaka kept Houston’s bats in the deep freeze by giving up just three hits and one walk before exiting after seven shutout innings.

Greg Bird, Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez and Didi Gregorius all drove in runs with clutch hits against Astros starter Dallas Keuchel, who had dominated the Yankees throughout his career. In 57 2/3 innings (regular season and playoffs), Keuchel had allowed only seven earned runs (1.09 ERA). In Game 5, he was roughed up for four runs and seven hits in 4 2/3 innings.

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State of the Series: After a travel day on Thursday, the series returns to Houston for Game 6 with the Yankees riding a wave of momentum and needing one more win to reach the World Series.

“I believe momentum is a dangerous thing to rely on all the time because it can change in a pitch or two,” said Astros manager A.J. Hinch. “So be careful for what you wish for when you rely too much on momentum.”

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The Astros will look for another dominating pitching performance from right-hander Justin Verlander, who allowed one run and struck out 13 in going the distance to win Game 2.

The Yankees haven’t officially named a starter, but their most likely choice is Luis Severino, who also started Game 2. He gave up a solo home run to Carlos Correa and one other hit, but was taken out after only four innings.

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Game 5 pivot point: The Yankees broke the game open and sent Keuchel to the showers in the bottom of the fifth inning. Leading 2-0 with one out, designated hitter Chase Headley reached base on an infield single and advanced to second on an error by Astros third baseman Alex Bregman.

Keuchel retired Brett Gardner on a comebacker to bring Aaron Judge to the plate – and Astros manager A.J. Hinch to the mound.

Judge drove in the game’s first run in his previous at-bat. Not coincidentally, the discussion on the mound led to Keuchel issuing his first walk of the game, one that seemed intentional.

Not giving Judge anything to hit was the proper move; Keuchel had struck out the next two batters – Gary Sanchez and Didi Gregorius – in both of their first two at-bats.

Get out of the inning and the Astros are still in the game down 2-0. However, Sanchez scorched an RBI single to left and Gregorius followed with a ground ball that just barely made it up the middle to bring home Judge and make the score 4-0.

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Man of the moment: In three previous postseason starts, Tanaka had the misfortune of facing Keuchel in two of them – Game 1 of this year’s ALCS and the 2015 AL wild-card game. Keuchel didn’t allow a run in either as the Astros won both.

This time Tanaka stole the spotlight, looking almost exactly as he did his last time on the Yankee Stadium mound.

With the Yankees losing the first two games of the Division Series to the Cleveland Indians, Tanaka also allowed just three hits and a walk in seven shutout innings. His performance got the Yankees back into the ALDS as they eventually won three straight to advance.

His superb effort against the Astros could be the tipping point in yet another Yankees comeback from a 2-0 deficit to win a playoff series, something they’ve done four times in franchise history.

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Needing a mulligan: The Astros missed out on a golden opportunity to break a scoreless tie in the top of the second inning when Yulieski Gurriel ripped a leadoff double into the left-field corner.

With three chances to get Gurriel home, Bregman grounded out to first to move the runner to third.

Yankees manager Joe Girardi then elected to bring his infield in to cut off the run – and the strategy worked perfectly when Carlos Beltran hit a weak grounder to second. With a minimal lead off third, Gurriel had no chance to beat a throw home. Marwin Gonzalez hit a harmless grounder back to pitcher Masahiro Tanaka and the Yankees escaped without any damage.

The inning was typical of the Astros’ hitting woes during the ALCS. With runners in scoring position and two outs, Houston is 1-for-12 in the series.

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What you missed on TV: Former players are always treated like royalty at Yankee Stadium. Sometimes they get to throw out the first pitch, as left-hander Andy Pettitte did before Game 5, outfielder Paul O’Neill did before Game 4 and Bernie Williams did before Game 3. All of them received rousing ovations.

However, the adulation isn’t just for those former Yankees who step out onto the field. Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez, who pitched for the Yanks from 1998-2004 is doing the Spanish-language commentary for the national radio broadcast. Before the game, he ventured out onto the stadium’s main concourse and was stopped by fans all along the way.

Hernandez won four World Series rings, including three in consecutive seasons with the Yankees from 1998-2000. He won a fourth with the Chicago White Sox in 2005.

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