Four runs is hardly a ton, but there are plenty of instances when it’s enough to win a game. Starting on the mound, Will Warren put in a completely respectable outing for a rookie facing a contending team in a big game. Led by Giancarlo Stanton and Austin Wells, he also got just enough run support to make it look like the Yankees might pick up another win.
However, the bullpen had other plans. Quite literally every reliever that the Yankees put into the game after Warren left put in some contribution
to evaporating the lead. A full meltdown in the eighth inning led to the Astros scoring four runs and dooming the Yankees to a very bad 8-7 loss.
After both pitchers had to work out of some trouble in the first, the Yankees struck in the second. Leading off the frame was Giancarlo Stanton, who took a run at derailing the train at Daikin Park. Stanton hit a rocket up near the train track up high over the left field wall, giving the Yankees the early lead.
Two innings later, it was another Yankees’ turn, albeit with not quite as moonshot-y a homer. With Ben Rice on after a single, Austin Wells just cleared the Crawford Boxes in left field, adding two runs to the lead, and crossing the 20 homer threshold for the season.
After a couple more scoreless innings from Warren, the Astros did get on the board themselves in the sixth. Following a one-out Yanier Diaz double, Jazz Chisholm Jr. got a piece of but couldn’t corral a Victor Caratini hit, which went past him for a single instead. Diaz had to stop on third on that play, but he was able to tag up and score when Ramón Urías hit a deep fly ball. The inning could’ve been worse, but Warren managed to allow just one run out of that situation.
However, the Yankees immediately got that run right back. The Rice and Wells connection struck again, as Rice singled, with Wells then setting the Yankees up with a double — his third hit of the night. While Anthony Volpe couldn’t get anything done, Ryan McMahon then got a fly ball deep enough for Rice to tag up and score.
Warren came back out to start the sixth inning, but Jeremy Peña got him for a lead-off home run on the very first pitch of the inning. That brought Aaron Boone out of the dugout, ending Warren’s day. In his five frames, Warren allowed two runs on five hits, striking out four.
Fernando Cruz replaced him but immediately allowed a double to Yordan Alvarez, thanks in part to a misplay from a left field-playing Stanton. Some wildness then cost him as a wild pitch allowed Alvarez to go to third, from where he scored on a ground out.
Luke Weaver was called upon for the seventh, but he quickly ran into trouble. After a Caratini lead-off single, Weaver got two outs, but then walked Peña, bringing Alvarez back to the plate. Alvarez made the Yankees pay once again, dropping in a single to tie the game up.
The apex of the bullpen stupidity came in the eighth inning. Devin Williams came on and quickly allowed a double to Carlos Correa and walked Jesús Sánchez. After getting one out, Williams issued two more walks to load the bases. While Williams then got a strikeout to get on the verge of escaping things, he then walked Taylor Trammell on five pitches to give Houston their first lead of the day. To be fair, one of the balls was a strike according to strike zone plots, but to be realistic, anyone could’ve seen that coming. Both Williams and Boone ended up getting ejected for arguing after Boone came out to remove the reliever.
Camilo Doval replaced Williams, but he too ran the frustration gauntlet, allowing a single, before a balk and a wild pitch allowed three more runs to score.
After those repeated punches to the stomach, the Yankees offense were up against it, but they mustered as much of a rally attempt as they reasonably could. With Ryan McMahon on after a single, Aaron Judge kept the game alive with a two-out double. Cody Bellinger followed that with a home run, and suddenly the Yankees were back within a run — and those dumb runs Doval allowed suddenly loomed much larger. Chisholm couldn’t keep things going as he was punched out on a very borderline strike three call to end the game.
The series in Houston will wrap tomorrow night with the finale set to start at 7:40 p.m. ET. Carlos Rodón is scheduled to get the ball, opposite Cristian Javier for the Astros.
