NEW YORK — The Yankee Stadium boos held no boundaries once again during Game 3 of the American League Championship Series on Saturday night.
It began with Matt Carpenter tailed toward Josh Donaldson and then managed to fall on Aaron Judge.
“I think they were booing a lot tonight,” Donaldson acknowledged after the game.
The crowd’s dissatisfaction was directed toward a toothless Yankees offense that only managed three hits and did not stand a chance against Astros starting pitcher Cristian Javier and the rest of his cohorts in a 5-0 defeat in Game 3 of the ALDS on Saturday night.
“It’s a really good pitching staff. We got to find a way right now,” Aaron Boone said. “We know what we’re up against. We know what they’re capable of.
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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.”
Javier, who threw seven innings as part of the Astros’ combined no-hitter against the Yankees on June 25, continued to confound Yankees hitters. He gave up just one hit and three walks with five strikeouts across 5⅓ innings.
It was the first time that the Yankees have been shut out in the playoffs since a 4-0 loss to the Astros in Game 7 of the 2017 ALCS. They have been held to six hits or fewer in each of their last 10 postseason games dating back to Game 5 of the 2020 ALDS.
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Judge, the team’s home run king, caught flak following a sixth-inning strikeout at a low splitter by Hector Neris. By then, the Yankees’ hopes of getting back within reach vanished as the Astros built a seemingly insurmountable five-run lead.
“Oh, you definitely understand their frustration, but it’s a big Game 4 coming up,” Judge said. “Even if we get down, just stick with us and we’ll do our thing. I understand why there’s boos and there’s yelling at times, but we’ve got to pick it up as a team and it’s going to take their support, that’s for sure.”
