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The Yankees had a chance to sweep the Astros tonight, but they struggled to get anything going against Houston’s starter Lance McCullers and their winning streak came to a stop at three games. The Yankees may have one of the best records since the All-Star break, but they seem incapable of going on any type of streak that would enable them to make up any ground in the AL East or the wild card standings.
All of the excitement happened during the first four innings of this game. The Astros got on the board first in the second inning after Masahiro Tanaka issued back-to-back one-out walks to Preston Tucker and Alex Bregman. Carlos Gomez drove in the run with an RBI single up the middle that was deflected by Tanaka. The following inning, Marwin Gonzalez hit a lead-off single, reached second base on a ground out, then took third on a wild pitch. Carlos Correa singled to left making it 2-0. The next batter was Colby Rasmus, and he quickly expanded the Astros’ lead with a two-run shot to center field.
It wasn’t the best outing for Tanaka, who only lasted five innings, gave up seven hits, walked two batters, and notched four strikeouts. Adam Warren took over in the sixth inning, making his first appearance since being traded back to the Yankees from the Cubs. He surrendered a one-out double, but the Astros weren’t able to do any damage as Jake Marisnick was thrown out stealing third base, and Jason Castro lined out to end the inning.
Luis Severino also made his first appearance out of the bullpen after being called up a few days ago. He hadn’t pitched for the Yankees since May after rehabbing a triceps injury and hanging out in Scranton for a few months. Severino pitched two clean innings and allowed zero hits, one walk, and three strikeouts.
As for the Yankees’ offense, their one and only run was a home run off the bat of Brian McCann. The entire team only scraped together five hits total (Didi Gregorius hit two singles, and Mark Teixeira and Brett Gardner each had one). Jacoby Ellsbury and Starlin Castro also drew one walk apiece. Their best chance to score came in the fourth inning when Gregorius hit a one-out single and Castro walked, but Chase Headley and Aaron Hicks both struck out. Not great.
The Yankees will have tomorrow off before they head to Tampa Bay to wrap up this month with a series against the basement-dwelling Rays. Ivan Nova and Jake Odorizzi are expected to start that game at 7:10 EST.