Astros vs. Yankees score: Houston wins ALCS Game 1 behind Justin Verlander,

The Houston Astros defeated the New York Yankees, 4-2, in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series on Wednesday night. The Astros lead the best-of-seven series 1-0, meaning they’re three games away from punching a ticket to the World Series for the fourth time since 2017.

The Astros fell behind in the second inning, as Harrison Bader delivered his fourth home run in his sixth postseason game this fall, launching a solo shot against Justin Verlander. Houston would tie things up in the bottom half of the inning. Backstop Martín Maldonado launched an opposite-field double that plated Chas McCormick.

The two sides would trade zeroes until the sixth inning. That’s when first baseman Yuli Gurriel hit a home run to left field to put Houston up 2-1. The aforementioned McCormick would hit his own solo home run a couple batters later, building the lead up to 3-1. Another home run, this time from Jeremy Peña in the seventh, made it 4-1. 

The Yankees would get a run back in the eighth on an Anthony Rizzo solo shot, cutting the lead to 4-2. The Yankees would threaten further in the eighth, putting the tying run on first with two outs. The score remained the same until the final out, however, sealing the deal for the Astros.

Here are six things you need to know about the Astros’ Game 1 win.

1. Verlander throws gem, makes history

The Astros owe much of their victory to ace Justin Verlander. The frontrunner for the AL Cy Young Award struggled in his first start this postseason against the Seattle Mariners. He course-corrected on Wednesday, holding the Yankees to one run over six innings of work. Verlander gave up three hits, one walk, and one hit by pitch, he struck out 11 batters on 103 pitches.

As ESPN Stats and Info noted, Verlander became the all-time postseason leader in strikeouts, surpassing Dodgers left-hander Clayton Kershaw early in the night:

Verlander’s 11 strikeouts tied for the second most he’s recorded in a single postseason game. His career-high remains the 13 he punched out against the Yankees in the 2017 ALCS. This is the fifth time he’s struck out 11, and the second time he’s done so versus New York. (To be fair, Verlander has now made nine postseason starts against the Yankees, giving him ample opportunity to accomplish the feat.)

Verlander threw three pitches more than 20 times on Wednesday: his fastball, slider, and curveball. He generated a game-high 17 swinging strikes, generating at least four on each of those three pitches, and eight on his slider alone.

In so many words, Verlander did not look like someone who had authored arguably the worst postseason start of his career last time out.

2. Taillon keeps the Yankees in the game

Yankees right-hander Jameson Taillon didn’t have a Verlander-like performance by any means. He did keep the game close, however, and that meant he surpassed the modest expectations placed upon him facing the vaunted Astros lineup.

Taillon threw 4 1/3 innings, surrendering one…