The last two times they faced the Astros in the ALCS, the Yankees lost tough, close series.
This year, they were determined to forge a different outcome.
Now, they are perilously close to succeeding, just not in the way they had hoped.
After two narrow losses to start the ALCS in Houston, the Yankees returned home Saturday and were outclassed by the Astros, pushing them to the brink of being swept out of the playoffs.
They couldn’t hit, they couldn’t field, and Gerrit Cole was outpitched by Cristian Javier in a 5-0 loss in Game 3 in The Bronx.
That has left the Yankees in the unenviable position of having to win four straight games — starting Sunday night, when Nestor Cortes will go up against Lance McCullers Jr. in Game 4.
“Our backs are against the wall,’’ Anthony Rizzo said.
Asked about their chances of coming back from an 0-3 deficit, Matt Carpenter said: “Crazier things have happened.”
Only one MLB team has managed to do it: The 2004 Red Sox, who beat the Yankees in four straight games en route to the title.
Given the Astros’ recent dominance over the Yankees, a comeback in this series seems almost as hard to fathom.
“Is it gonna be easy? No,’’ Carpenter said. “Are there a lot of people who consider this thing over? Sure. But the guys in this clubhouse are gonna fight till the end. Hopefully we can come back.”
Cole gave up five runs — three earned — in five-plus innings and the inept Yankees offense couldn’t make a dent in the deficit.
“We’ve got to find a way right now,’’ manager Aaron Boone said. “We know what we’re up against. We know what they’re capable of. So whether it’s taking advantage of those times you do get a mistake or at certain times going and hunting down and trying to take a strength away of theirs in a certain situation and really look for and attack a certain pitch in a situation, we got to find a way.’’
Cole gave up a two-run homer to Chas McCormick after a two-out error by Harrison Bader in the second inning. Then, Cole left with the bases loaded and no one out in the sixth and all three runners scored.
The offense, in a rut for much of the playoffs, got even worse on Saturday, much to the dismay of the sold out Yankee Stadium crowd.
Javier, making his first postseason start, followed up his outing at Yankee Stadium during the regular season — when he tossed seven no-hit innings on June 25 in an Astros’ combined no-hitter — with another dominant performance.
This time, the right-hander held the Yankees hitless until Giancarlo Stanton doubled to the gap in right-center with one out in the fourth inning.
Five Houston relievers threw 3 ²/₃ scoreless innings to close out the victory.
Cole, who was excellent in two wins over the Guardians in the ALDS, had good stuff again Saturday, but a key mistake in the outfield burned the Yankees in the second inning.
With two outs, Christian Vazquez hit a fly ball to right-center that either Bader or Aaron Judge should have caught easily. A near-collision between the two, however, caused Bader to drop the ball.
The inning was extended, and McCormick sent an opposite-field shot to right that hit the top of the fence and bounced over for a two-run homer, which traveled just 335 feet and put the Yankees in a 2-0 hole.
Cole was yanked in the sixth inning, after 96 pitches, with the bases loaded and no one out in favor of Lou Trivino.
Trey Mancini hit a sacrifice fly to left and Vazquez followed with a two-run single to make it 5-0, as Houston’s 7-8-9 hitters drove in all five runs.
Josh Donaldson and Oswaldo Cabrera reached on walks to start the bottom of the eighth inning, but Jose Trevino flied out and Rizzo lined out. Rafael Montero then came in to face Judge and got him to ground out softly to end the Yankees’ best threat.
“We’ve had our backs against the wall all year,’’ Judge said. “Even in the postseason, when we went down to Cleveland. We can’t look too far ahead.”
