Gerrit Cole Sums Up Yankees’ ALCS Loss To Astros: ‘They Beat Us In Every Facet’
Gerrit Cole saw what everyone else did after the Astros swept the Yankees in the American League Championship Series.
"They beat us in every facet,” New York’s ace said when asked what it would take to close the gap between the two teams. “My expertise is not in general managing or acquiring or building rosters, so it's hard for me to answer, but I watched the series, and I didn't really see an area where we played better than them."
Cole, who allowed three earned runs over five innings in Game 3, commented following Game 4 of the ALCS, a 6-5 Houston win. The victory sent the Astros to their second consecutive World Series and fourth since 2017.
Houston also beat the Yankees in the ALCS in 2017 and 2019. New York has not reached or won a World Series since 2009.
While the previous championship series between the rivals went seven (2017) and six (2019) games, the Yankees couldn’t even win a game at home this time around. Houston celebrated at Yankee Stadium after Game 4.
Three of the four games were decided by two runs or less, but Houston outperformed New York across the board. Jose Altuve, Yordan Alvarez and Kyle Tucker provided minimal contributions at the plate, but the Astros’ excellent pitching – led by starters Justin Verlander, Framber Valdez and Cristian Javier – paved the way for 50 Yankees strikeouts in just four games.
“We got beat by a better team right now and that's the reality of it,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “They're clearly setting the mark in this league that we're aspiring to get to.”
Boone went on to say that he felt a few injured Yankees, like infielder DJ LeMahieu and outfielder Andrew Benintendi, were missed during the series.
That may have been the case, but there’s no guarantee they would have changed the outcome of a four-game sweep.
“We had some key contributors missing that I think would have been difference-makers for us potentially,” Boone said. “But then again, everyone has to deal with those things on some level. So it's frustrating.”
