Astros Edge Yankees, 4-3

If this was the regular season, this loss would've been a tough one to swallow. Good thing it was just an exhibition.

Hiroki Kuroda improved upon his first outing, holding Houston scoreless for three frames while escaping a couple jams thanks to Brian Bogusevic, who hit into a double play to end the first and struck out (with the bases loaded) to end the third. Overall, Kuroda induced four groundouts to one flyout and struck out two.

Rafael Soriano followed and couldn't get through one inning, allowing a run on three hits. Dellin Betances pitched two scoreless innings without allowing a walk, a rarity for him.

On the other side, Kyle Weiland proved too much for the Yankees B-lineup, holding the Bombers hit-less for four frames while inducing nine groundouts.

Anyway, the game was tied heading into the ninth, but Houston scored twice in the top half. The Yanks almost equalized in the bottom half, but with the tying run on second, Ramiro Pena struck out on three pitches to end the contest.

Ivan Nova will face Felix Doubront as the Yanks host the Red Sox tomorrow night at 7 p.m.