Dallas Keuchel leads Astros in rout of Diamondbacks, close in on playoffs

PHOENIX -- Dallas Keuchel slowly walked into the Houston Astros clubhouse at 3:53 Friday afternoon, took a right turn to his locker, and dressed in the quiet of the Houston Astros' clubhouse.

Keuchel never uttered a word, or even looked at a soul.

He had business to take care of, realizing he would be pitching perhaps the Astros' most important game in a decade.

Nearly seven hours later, with the music blaring, and a champagne toast in his honor, Keuchel could relax and savor the moment, realizing he had just brought the Astros to the brink of the playoffs.

The Astros, in a 21-5 rout over the Arizona Diamondbacks, lowered their Magic Number to just 2 to clinch the American League's second wild-card spot, with Keuchel cruising for six innings and spending the rest of the game watching the biggest offensive onslaught in Astros' history.

Keuchel not only won his league-leading 20th game, but he might have secured the American League Cy Young award, too, edging ahead of Toronto Blue Jays ace David Price. Price is 18-5 with a league-leading 2.45 ERA, and won't pitch again until Game 1 of the American League Division Series_perhaps against Keuchel's Astros.

Keuchel, the first Astros' pitcher to win 20 games since Roy Oswalt in 2005, has been absolutely brilliant all season. He leads the American League in victories (20-8), innings pitched (232), quality starts (27), WAR (7.1), and is second with a 2.48 ERA.

"This guy has been as consistent as anybody,'' Astros manager A.J. Hinch said, "which is why arguably he's the best pitcher in the American League, with no disrespect to Price and some of the other starters.''

And if you're the best, well, a Cy Young plaque usually commemorates that achievement.

"I'm prejudiced for our guy because I've seen it,'' Hinch said. "He's been the [AL] pitcher of the month for four of the five months. He started the All-Star Game. He's pitching for the pennant race for one team.

"There's great argument and debate, and a lot of support for Price, but they can't go wrong if they chose our guy. It's just hard to argue that anybody has been more consistent and more dominant for as long as an entire season than Dallas.''

You want consistency? The man has pitched at least six innings in 43 of his last 44 starts. And yes, don't let any of the sabermetrics fool you, 20 wins is still one of the most magical achievements in baseball.

"All year when he took the ball,'' Astros right fielder George Springer said, "you expect to win. And he did it 20 times.

"That's incredible.''

Yet, for a man enjoying the greatest season of his career, and already honored as the American League's starting pitcher in the All-Star Game, it will leave an empty, painful feeling in his gut if he doesn't pitch one more time.

He wants that ball when the Astros face the New York Yankees in the wild-card game.

The Astros haven't clinched a playoff berth quite yet, but they all but mathematically eliminated the Minnesota Twins from the wild-card race, and maintained their one-game lead over the Los Angeles Angels, who beat the Texas Rangers, 2-1. The Twins lost, 3-1, to the Kansas City Royals, and now sit two games behind the Astros with only two games remaining in the regular-season schedule.

If the Rangers beat the Angels on Saturday afternoon, clinching the AL West, the Astros could be celebrating their first playoff berth in 10 years with a victory in the evening.

It's only fitting that Keuchel was the one who brought him to this point.

"I feel like every start I make is the biggest start of my career,'' Keuchel said. "This is nice because I'm helping the team out. I was glad to help out today.

"But we're still nowhere near where we want to be.''

Where they want to be is in New York on Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium in the American League wild-card game.

Keuchel, who was pulled after six innings and 99 pitches to preserve his arm strength, says he'll be ready.

"It's going to be crazy,'' Astros outfielder Carlos Gomez said. "We want this so bad. We want to be the team that plays the Yankees. And beats the Yankees.

"Hey, anything can happen. You look at the Giants. They just barely got in, and took off when they got there. That could be us.
"It's a crazy game.''

The Astros realize they're two years ahead of schedule. They're just kids. They weren't supposed to be taken seriously for a couple of years.

Yet, they never listened to the outside world, ignored the skeptics who never believed it would last, and aren't about to take solace in anything but a playoff berth.

They don't want to hear anyone telling them that even if they fall short, and miss out on the playoffs, it's a great season.

They don't want pats on the back to hear fans yell, "Good game, good effort.''

It's playoffs, or bust.

"If it doesn't happen,'' Astros catcher Hank Conger said, "it will be very disappointing. It will be. I hear a lot of people say, "Well, compared to last year. Well, we're a completely different team.

"So for us, the way we've been playing all year long, it would be very disappointing not to make it. Either you make it, or not.
"There is no consolation prize.''

Meanwhile, the rest of the playoff picture became slightly more clear.

The Pittsburgh Pirates won in 12 innings on Starling Marte's walk-off homer against the Cincinnati Reds, virtually assuring they will host the National League wild-card game against the Cubs. The Pirates need to win just one of their final two games, or have the Cubs lose once, to clinch home field.

The Toronto Blue Jays and Kansas City Royals each won, and have identical records of 93-67 in the American League. If they remain tied, the Blue Jays would have home-field advantage throughout the postseason. More important, they would play the winner of the wild-card game instead of the AL West winner in the first round, which likely will be the red-hot Rangers.

In the National League, the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets know they'll be facing one another in the first round, but have no idea know where it will start. The Dodgers, with a 6-2 victory over San Diego, have a 90-70 record, a half-game ahead of the Mets (89-70). The Mets were rained out and will play a doubleheader Saturday against the Washington Nationals. If the two teams end up tied, the series would start at Citi Field in New York with the Mets having the tiebreaker advantage.

Hey, let everyone else worry about those headaches and wild scenarios, the Astros say, because now their mission is clear.

"It's pretty simple for us,'' Conger said. "We know if we win our next [two] games, no matter what anyone does, and we're in.

"That's a pretty good feeling.''

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