Getty Image / Rob Carr
The Houston Astors are cruising right now in the ALCS. After a pair games in their home stadium to start the series, the Astros find themselves holding a 2-0 lead over the New York Yankees.
Their success early in the series has come behind a pair of strong pitching performances. In Game 1, Justin Verlander held the Yankees to just 1 earned run over 6 innings and the bullpen only surrendered one more on the way to a 4-2 win.
In Game 2, Framber gave up a pair of runs thanks to his own errors, but the bullpen held the Yankees scoreless en route to a 3-2 win.
Ahead of Game 3, they may have actually run into their first pitching issue of the series.
Lance McCullers Jr was scheduled to start Game 3 after throwing 6 shutout innings to secure a sweep for the Astros in the ALDS. Unfortunately, he suffered an unusual injury after getting the win in that game.
According to McCullers, his elbow was hit with a bottle of champagne during their celebration.
Lance McCullers Jr will miss Game 3 start for Houston Astros after injuring elbow during ALDS celebration
Lance McCullers Jr says he got hit on the elbow bone by a spare champagne bottle during the Seattle celebration, so that is why he got pushed back one game. He threw a bullpen today and says everything is fine. Lance will start in game four.
— Mark Berman (@MarkBermanFox26) October 21, 2022
Luckily, this will only cause McCullers to be pushed back 1 day as he is now scheduled to pitch Game 4.
McCullers wasn’t available to the Houston Astros for most of the regular season, but was dominant in the 8 starts he made. He worked his way to a 2.27 ERA and struck out 50 in those starts. He went 4-2 during the regular season.
If the Astros can keep rolling in Game 3, McCullers could have a chance to close out another series once he has gotten past his champagne injury.