HOUSTON — Joe Girardi and general manager Brian Cashman have often said the Yankees’ offense is built for Yankee Stadium.
That was never more apparent than in the ALCS.
They scored 19 runs against the Astros in three wins in The Bronx, but just three in four games on the road. And they came up empty in Saturday’s 4-0 loss in Game 7 at Minute Maid Park.
“It’s a team that hasn’t experienced a lot of this … and going on the road in hostile environments,’’ Girardi said. “We were able to win Game 5 in Cleveland and I felt good about us winning one game here. But we just weren’t able to do it.’’
After going 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position in Friday’s loss, the Yankees were just as silent against Charlie Morton and the Astros on Saturday, going hitless in three at-bats with runners in scoring position.
They got just one hit through four innings against Morton — a grounder through the right side of the infield by Gary Sanchez that led off the second.
Greg Bird was the first Yankee to get into scoring position, with a double to start the fifth against the right-hander, but the Yankees were unable to get him home.
There were plenty of culprits in the lineup, starting with Aaron Hicks, who went 2-for-24 in the series and hitless in his final 13 at-bats. Brett Gardner finished 4-for-27 and Starlin Castro was 5-for-24. The three combined for one RBI in the seven games.
Throughout the postseason, the Yankees had difficulty generating runs when they weren’t hitting homers — which they didn’t do often at Minute Maid Park.
On Saturday, their most productive players of the postseason, like Aaron Judge, Didi Gregorius and Sanchez couldn’t bail them out.
“We felt like we were in a good spot up 3-2 [in the series], but they played well,” Gardner said. “We ran into some really good pitching, which can happen in the postseason … I don’t think it’s puzzling. We didn’t hit well with runners in scoring position. We just came up short and it hurts.”
Todd Frazier lamented his inability to tie the game at 1-1 with Bird at third.
“It was frustrating to not come through there,” Frazier said. “But we couldn’t put anything together. And that got us.”