On Bright Side, Keuchel Just Four Years From Free Agency

Maybe Dallas Keuchel should pitch on three days’ rest all the time. On the other hand, maybe he should only pitch against the Yankees.

Keuchel continued his dominance of the most successful franchise in pro sports history Tuesday night, surrendering just three hits -- all of them singles -- while striking out seven in six shutout innings. The lefty’s masterful performance, along with a solid turn by the bullpen and a few timely home runs, sent the Astros on to the divisional round of the playoffs -- and sent the Yanks home for the season.

Houston’s ace faced the Bronx Bombers three times in 2015, and, in a total of 22 innings, gave up nary a run. Facing elimination (of course, so were the Stros) in the one-game series, manager Joe Girardi tried to give his team a fighting chance by making the lineup less reliant than usual on left-handed hitters, against whom Keuchel is essentially unhittable.

Still, the only righties who really might’ve made a difference for the home team at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday were Mike Trout and Josh Donaldson, and, unfortunately, neither wears pinstripes -- at least not yet (attn: Brian Cashman -- they become free agents in 2020 and 2019, respectively).

Of course, the Yanks already have one of the best right-handed hitters of all-time. Then again, it’s A-Rod. Fair or not, the guy may have amassed 700 home runs in his incredible career (687 in the regular season and another 13 in the postseason), but to me, his Yankee years can be summed up by what he did with Keuchel’s 87th -- and final -- pitch.

With two out and two on in the bottom of the sixth and the Bombers down two runs and threatening to score against the tiring Keuchel for the one and only time in the contest, Rodriguez was so eager to end the night ASAP that he swung at the first pitch almost before it left the hurler’s hand. The weak pop-up ended the inning and, for all intents and purposes, the Yankees’ season.

Masahiro Tanaka was no Keuchel, but the Yanks’ starter was solid. Tanaka yielded four hits in his five innings, and while two of those were dingers -- there’s no shame in that, Houston hit 230 of them this year -- the righty kept his team in the game on a night where he got no help from the Yankee bats.

If the 26-year-old Tanaka can stay healthy (actually, get healthy is more like it), than he can be a foundational player for New York in the years to come. And he’d better, because the team owes him $111 million over the next five years.

Then again, like Donaldson, the 27-year-old Keuchel -- who made roughly $21.5 million less than Tanaka this season -- can become a free agent just four short years from now. He’ll surely be worth whatever the Yanks end up paying for him, if nothing else so they don’t have to face him anymore.

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