HOUSTON — Dallas Keuchel has been asked why he pitches so well at home so many times that on Saturday, when it was posed yet again, Houston’s ace had a little fun with the answer.
“Maybe it’s the temperature,” he said. “I don’t know the AC … set on 71.”
Keuchel went 15-0 with a 1.46 earned run average at Minute Maid Park this season, which is the best such mark in modern Major League history, eclipsing two pitchers for the Boston Red Sox, Boo Ferriss and Tex Hughson, who both went 13-0 in 1946.
On Sunday when the Astros host a playoff game for the first time since the 2005 World Series, Keuchel will try to extend the mark and give Houston a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five AL division series against Kansas City.
His franchise-record home winning streak is actually 16 games after he won his last home start of 2014, and his ERA in Houston is the lowest home ERA in the AL since former Astro Nolan Ryan had a 1.07 ERA in 1972.
