{"id":104079,"date":"2022-10-21T20:05:56","date_gmt":"2022-10-21T20:05:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/astros-to-start-cristian-javier-in-alcs-game-3-vs-yankees\/"},"modified":"2022-10-21T20:05:56","modified_gmt":"2022-10-21T20:05:56","slug":"astros-to-start-cristian-javier-in-alcs-game-3-vs-yankees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/astros-to-start-cristian-javier-in-alcs-game-3-vs-yankees\/","title":{"rendered":"Astros to start Cristian Javier in ALCS Game 3 vs. Yankees"},"content":{"rendered":"
Houston Astros right-hander Lance McCullers Jr. has been pushed back a day and will start Game 4 after sustaining a small cut on his throwing elbow from a thrown champagne bottle on Saturday.<\/p>\n
“Unfortunately, after the victory in Seattle, I caught a spare champagne bottle to the elbow bone,” McCullers said.<\/p>\n
Up 2-0 in the best-of-seven American League Championship Series, Houston will start Cristian Javier in Game 3 at the New York Yankees on Saturday and McCullers will start Game 4 Sunday night.<\/p>\n
McCullers said he had some swelling after the incident following the team’s 18-inning, ALDS-clinching win against the Seattle Mariners, so the team chose to give him an extra day to rest.<\/p>\n
“It was really no one’s fault,” McCullers said. “It was just an accident. So, it’s not a huge deal.\u201d<\/p>\n
McCullers said he threw a bullpen of 35 pitches Friday and was feeling good and would have no limitations in his start Sunday.<\/p>\n
He was asked exactly how the injury occurred.<\/p>\n
“Some guy was kind of coming back behind me and the bottle just happened to kind of hit the back inside a part of my elbow as the people were passing by,” McCullers said. “It wasn’t like we were getting wild. I was standing there. He was walking by, just happened to hit me in the right spot.”<\/p>\n
He isn’t the first pitcher to be injured celebrating this season after Philadelphia Phillies reliever David Robertson missed the NLDS after straining his calf jumping to celebrate a home run by Bryce Harper in the Wild Card round.<\/p>\n
Javier pitched 1 1\/3 innings of relief in Houston’s 8-7 Game 1 win in the ALDS but hasn’t started since an Oct. 1 win over Tampa Bay.<\/p>\n
The 25-year-old started and struck out 13 in seven innings of a combined no-hitter in a 3-0 win at Yankee Stadium on June 25. Gerrit Cole, who will start for New York on Saturday, took the loss in that game.<\/p>\n
Primarily used as a starting pitcher, Javier, who was 11-9 with a 2.54 ERA and 194 strikeouts this season, threw 1\u2153 innings of relief in Game 1 of the ALDS vs. Seattle.<\/p>\n
On June 25, Javier, Hector Neris and Ryan Pressly combined for the first no-hitter at Yankee Stadium in 19 years in Houston’s 3-0 victory. Javier, whose fastball topped out at 96.3 mph in the game, set career highs with 13 strikeouts on 115 pitches over seven innings in the game before he was pulled.<\/p>\n
McCullers started Houston’s marathon 18-inning win over Seattle in Game 3 of the Division Series that completed a sweep of the Mariners. He allowed two hits and struck out seven in six scoreless innings of the 1-0 victory before being injured as the Astros celebrated clinching their sixth straight trip to the ALCS.<\/p>\n
McCullers ended Game 7 of the 2017 ALCS by throwing 24 consecutive curveballs to retire the Yankees’ final five batters in order.<\/p>\n
He did not make his season debut for the Astros until Aug. 13 because of a right flexor tendon strain, he went 4-2 down the stretch with a 2.27 ERA and 50 strikeouts this season.<\/p>\n
The Yankees had already tabbed Cole as the starter for Game 3 and Nestor Cortes for Game 4.<\/p>\n