Yankees 2, Astros 1: Pettitte throws a complete game in final start

Andy Pettitte forever. In the final start of his career, Pettitte threw a complete game, allowing just one run. Unlike last Sunday, this time the offense got him enough runs, and Andy did the rest. After the Astros got their run in the fourth, Pettitte shut them down over the next five innings and got the Yankees a 2-1 win in his final start.

Early on, neither team could get much going. Andy kept the Astros off the board early, thanks in part to the two double plays he induced. But as Pettitte was doing that, the offense was struggling to do much of anything against Paul Clemens. It took until the bottom of the fourth for either team score. Jose Altuve led off the inning with a single, and moved to second on a Matt Dominguez ground out. Chris Carter came up next. He grounded one to Brendan Ryan at short. Altuve was running from contact and was able to make it to third by the time Ryan got his throw off. Altuve was able to scamper home and beat out Lyle Overbay's throw to the plate to score the first run. That gave the Astros a 1-0 lead.

The Yankees were able to get that run back, and more, a few innings later. Chris Stewart led off the top of the sixth with a single. Two batters later, Eduardo Nunez singled, moving Stewart to third. With runners on the corners and one out, Robinson Cano added another single. That scored Stewart and the game was tied at one. The next batter was Alfonso Soriano, who drew a walk to load the bases. After Overbay lined out, Zoilo Almonte came up. On one of the pitches to Almonte, Cano got a little too far off the base and Astros' catcher Matt Pagnozzi tried to throw down to second to get Cano. It did not go as planned for Pagnozzi. The catcher spiked his throw into the ground, causing the ball to bounce backwards and get past him. Nunez was able to come down from third and got under the tag from the covering pitcher. That gave the Yankees a 2-1 lead.

After that, the Yankees' offense threatened a few more times, but couldn't do much of anything else. But that didn't matter, because Andy was there. After the fourth inning run, Pettitte allowed just one hit and one walk from the fifth to the eighth. In the ninth inning, Andy was allowed to come back out and try and finish off a complete game. He got the first two outs quickly. Carter had to spoil it a little with a single. But Andy came right back and got J.D. Martinez to ground out to end the game and end a great career. The Yankees came away with a 2-1 win.

In the final start of his career, Andy Pettitte was brilliant. He allowed just five hits and two walks in his nine innings. We'll miss you, Andy.

Tomorrow sees the Yankees' season come to an end with one last game in Houston. David Huff will get the start, and first pitch is at 2:10 eastern.

Box score. Graph thingy.