“He’s got so many plans out there,” said Correa, the Astros’ shortstop. “When Plan A is working, he sticks with it. When the sinker is moving and the gun is hitting 90, I know he’s going to be lights out.”

Keuchel said he could not pinpoint why he had so consistently thwarted the Yankees, but acknowledged getting fired up to pitch against them.

“It’s such a storied franchise and they have so much rich history that you almost don’t even have to get up for the game, you’re already up for it,” he said. “That’s what they bring. They have a lot of talented players, and this was supposed to be the bridge year for them and they weren’t supposed to be here. But they are because they are good and they are the Yankees.”

The Yankees’ best chance to get to Keuchel came in the fifth, when second baseman Jose Altuve uncharacteristically made a mistake to give New York an opening.

With Bird having led off the inning with a single, Altuve bobbled and booted Matt Holliday’s almost certain double-play grounder, leaving runners at first and second with none out. But Keuchel retired Todd Frazier on a soft liner to center and struck out Brett Gardner. That brought up Judge, who had walked and struck out in his first two at-bats.

Judge, who was 1 for 20 with 16 strikeouts in the division series against Cleveland, lined a slider to left for a base hit, but Gonzalez charged and fired a one-hop strike to catcher Brian McCann, who slapped the tag on Bird just before he reached home plate with his feet-first slide. Gonzalez, the Astros’ super-utility player, carried so much momentum into the throw that he tumbled to the turf on his follow-through.