HOUSTON _ The difference between the Yankees and Astros in Sunday night's elongated ALCS Game 2, which by the 11th inning morphed into early Monday morning on the East Coast, was a single pitch.
Overall, the two teams threw a combined 355 pitches in the course of this 4-hour, 49-minute marathon, and the Yankees needed 179 to take the game to the 11th and preserve any hope of returning to the Bronx with a 2-0 ALCS lead.
But it was the 95-mph fastball that converted reliever J.A. Happ threw to Carlos Correa _ pitch No. 180 _ that decided Game 2 in a flash. On the first pitch of the Astros' half of the 11th, Correa hammered a no-doubter into the rightfield seats, stood rock-still to admire the ball's flight, then partied at home plate with the rest of the Astros to celebrate the series-tying 3-2 victory at a rejuvenated Minute Maid Park.
