Baseball: Tanaka solid in losing effort to open ALCS

Japanese right-hander Masahiro Tanaka gave up two runs and took the loss in the New York Yankees' 2-1 defeat to the Houston Astros in Friday's Game 1 of the American League Championship Series.Tanaka (0-1), who became the fifth Japanese hurler to start in the league championships, allowed four hits and a walk, while striking out three at Minute Maid Park. But as solid as Tanaka was, Astros lefty Dallas Keuchel (1-0) was better.With no score in the fourth, Astros MVP candidate Jose Altuve manufactured the game's first run. The Astros' sparkplug grounded an 0-1 pitch well outside the zone up …READ FULL ARTICLE