Both pitchers go the distance, but the Astros' bats were already in Cleveland.
The most interesting fact about Thursday's game was the game time. The Yankees and Astros completed Thursday matinee game in two hours and seven minutes, the shortest game of the 2014. Brandon McCarthy and Dallas Keuchel can be blamed or thanked for this result. Both pitchers threw a quick, effective complete game on Thursday.
Unfortunately for the Astros, Houston's bats went missing in the series finale with the Yankees. The only runs of the game came in the second inning as the Yankees put up a three spot. Mark Teixeira lead off the inning with a single. Martin Pardo and Chase Headley followed with back-to-back doubles to put two runs on the board. Francisco Cervelli and Ichiro Suzuki scored Headley with ground ball to third base and a sac fly. That was it for the runs.
Dexter Fowler was the catalyst for the Astros' attempt to generate offense. Fowler, in the fourth, doubled to put two runners in scoring position with two outs. Marc Krauss strained Fowler and Robbie Grossman with a ground out to end the inning. Fowler reached on a fielder's choice in the seventh and moved to third on a Krauss ground-rule double. But, he was once again strained by a Jon Singleton strikeout and Carlos Corporan fly out.
McCarthy would strike out eight and scatter four hits over nine innings of scoreless baseball. Keuchel kept the Yankees in check outside of the second and pitched his fifth complete game of the season. Both pitchers didn't issue a walk in the game and only 203 pitches were thrown. If a pitchers duel is your thing then Thursday was your kind of game. If an Astros win is your thing then Thursday was not your kind of game.