Astros vs. Indians final score: Bregman homers, Kluber struggles, plus takeaways from Houston's ALDS Game 1 win

The Astros opened the ALDS with a win over the Indians on Friday

Friday afternoon, four days after the end of the regular season, the Houston Astros and Cleveland Indians finally opened their ALDS matchup at Minute Maid Park.

The defending World Series champion Astros started their title defense with a tidy 7-2 win (box score) over the Indians in Game 1. They hit four home runs in the win and now lead the best-of-five series 1-0. Game 2 will be played Saturday afternoon. 

Here's what you need to know about the Astros win in Game 1 of the ALDS.

Bregman broke the ice

Astros third baseman Alex Bregman put together an MVP-caliber regular season in which he racked up 51 doubles and 31 home runs. He finished third in MLB in extra-base hits (83) and tenth in total bases (316). Bregman did that despite hitting only one home run in his final 18 regular season games.

In ALDS Game 1 on Friday, Bregman opened the scoring with a fourth inning solo home run into the Crawford Boxes in left field. It was his first home run at Minute Maid Park since Sept. 5.

That was the Bregman's fifth career postseason home run and he's hit them all five against brand names: Corey Kluber, Clayton Kershaw, Kenley Jansen, and Chris Sale (two).

Bregman's homer not only provided the first run of the series, it was the first hit of the series. Justin Verlander and Kluber had each thrown three hitless innings up to that point. The Astros added a second run in the fourth inning on Josh Reddick's two-out single.

Kluber's postseason HR trouble resurfaced

In his last four postseason starts, Kluber has now allowed 17 runs and nine home runs in 15 innings. That dates back to Game 7 of the 2016 World Series. The Astros worked him hard for four runs in 4 2/3 innings in ALDS Game 1 on Friday, including three more home runs.

Kluber sailed through the first three innings on 33 pitches before running into trouble in the fourth, when the Astros forced him to throw 35 pitches en route to scoring two runs. Kluber threw 87 total pitches in Game 1 and generated only eight swings and misses. That is very un-Kluber-like. Only six times in 33 regular season starts did he get fewer swings and misses.

More than anything, Kluber seemed to battle imperfect control Friday, which contributed to two hit-by-pitches in the second inning after three hit-by-pitches total during the regular season. Two walks and two hit batsmen gave the Astros four free baserunners. Never once in his 33 regular season starts did Kluber give a team more than three free baserunners.

Verlander pitched very well ...

... but he couldn't get through six innings. Give the Indians credit, they really made Verlander work despite not recording their first base hit until Yan Gomes capped a nine-pitch at-bat with a leadoff single to right in the sixth inning. 

Three batters later, Verlander was out of the game and the bases were loaded. He retired 15 of the first 16 batters he faced and only one of the final four batters he faced. The Indians went single, strikeout on a borderline pitch, single, walk in the sixth inning to push Verlander out of the game at 102 pitches.

Ryan Pressly, Houston's stud bullpen pickup at the trade deadline, inherited the bases loaded with one out and allowed two runs on a wild pitch and a fielder's choice ground ball to first base. Both runs were charged to Verlander.

The Indians sent 20 men to the plate against Verlander and 15 of the 20 saw at least four pitches. Part of that is the strikeouts, sure, but Cleveland did not give Verlander any quick at-bats. Even when those long at-bats resulted in outs, they still helped drive the pitch count up. Getting Verlander out in the sixth inning isn't easy.

Houston's bullpen was nails

Because of what happened with Ken Giles last postseason and early this season, a narrative has persisted that the Astros have a shaky bullpen. That couldn't be further from the truth. Houston's bullpen posted a 3.03 ERA during the regular season, the best in baseball, and they were among the league leaders in pretty much every meaningful bullpen category. Also, there's this:

The Astros ALDS bullpen is so stacked that if we take five of the big names who did *not* make the roster...

H. Rondon
J. Smith
C. Devenski
B. Peacock
F. Valdez

... they combined for a 3.40 ERA, a .223/.298/.387 line, and a 28% K.

Their .298 wOBA is basically Price/Bumgarner.

— Mike Petriello (@mike_petriello) October 5, 2018

Two Astros relievers (Pressly, Lance McCullers Jr., Roberto Osuna) combined to retire 11 of 12 batters faced in Game 1 after Verlander was given the hook. Pressly did allow two inherited runners to score on a wild pitch and a fielder's choice, but, when you're up 4-0, limiting the damage to two runs when the opposing team had the bases loaded with one out isn't a bad outcome.

Pressly retired the five batters he faced (two strikeouts) before giving way to McCullers, who went 1-2-3 in the eighth. Osuna pitched around a leadoff single in the ninth to close out the Game 1 win. The Astros can throw power arm after power arm at you. The Indians had three hits and five total baserunners in the game, and six times in their nine offensive innings they went down 1-2-3. Ouch.

Springer has gone deep in five straight postseason games

For only the fifth time in history, a player has gone deep in five consecutive postseason games. That player: George Springer. He hit a home run in each of Games 4-7 of the 2017 World Series before hitting a home run in Game 1 of the 2018 ALDS. He hit back-to-back jacks with Jose Altuve in the fifth inning Friday.

Springer and former Astro Carlos Beltran are tied the second longest home run streaks in postseason history at five games. Daniel Murphy holds the record. He went deep in six straight postseason games spanning the 2015 NLDS and 2015 NLCS.

All told, the Astros hit four home runs in Game 1 on Friday (Bregman, Springer, Altuve, Martin Maldonado). Believe it or not, Houston has hit at least four home runs in seven postseason games in franchise history. Only the Yankees (13) have more. The Astros have played 81 postseason games all-time. The Yankees have played 333 postseason games.

The Astros have an edge going forward

Historically, when a team wins Game 1 of a best-of-five postseason series at home, they've gone on to win the series 72.3 percent of the time. That's where the Astros are right now. They won Game 1 at home. The Indians need to win three of their next four games to advance to the ALCS now. Houston hasn't lost three times in a four-game span since August 28-31. 

LDS games will air on FS1, TBS and MLB Network. Games on TBS and FS1 can be streamed on fuboTV (Try for free). For a look at the complete schedule, click here.    

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