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against the at Yankee Stadium on August 24, 2015 in the Bronx borough of New York City.

Yankees vs. Astros, the 2015 season results

Over the course of the 2015 regular season, the New York Yankees visited the Houston Astros four times and the Yankees hosted the Astros for three games. Each game was covered here on Bronx Pinstripes.

 

June 25: Yankees 0, Astros 4

The New York Yankees opened a four-game series in Houston by facing the ace, Astros Wild Card game starter, Dallas Keuchel.

Adam Warren, at this point a starter, surrendered a run early in the second inning while Keuchel silenced the Yankees bats without as much as a swing. Warren went 5 2/3 of an inning with three runs allowed but when you’re facing Keuchel, one may be too much.

Dallas Keuchel got the first two outs in the ninth inning, including his, then career high 12 strikeouts, but ran into a bump in the final step to a shutout. Alex Rodriguez hit a single and Mark Teixeira walked on four straight pitches. Carlos Beltran loaded the bases with a base hit to left field but the Yankees did not have an ideal bat coming up as the potential tying run. Then left fielder Jose Pirela stepped to the plate with the game on the line and grounded out to end the game and complete the shutout for Keuchel.

 

June 26: Yankees 3, Astros 2

Home cooking does a Young man good. The Astros went ahead by two early against Nathan Eovaldi but Vincent Velasquez showed some bend to his start in the seventh inning. Carlos Beltran and Garrett Jones hit a pair of singles that signaled his end. Reliever Will Harris came in to face the potential go-ahead run, Texas native Chris Young. The outfielder from Texas took a 1-1 pitch to the Crawford boxes in left field and just like that, the two-run deficit became a one-run lead.

After six innings of two-run baseball by Eovaldi, Chasen Shreve struck out the side in the seventh inning. Justin Wilson got two outs in the eighth inning before a walk brought out the, then closer, Dellin Betances. He finished off the eighth inning with a strikeout before nailing down the save in the ninth inning for the Yankees win.

 

June 27: Yankees 9, Astros 6

This game was known for the breakdown of Astros starter Brett Oberholtzer. After a first inning double by Brett Gardner, Chris Young and Alex Rodriguez walked to load the bases. Brian McCann cashed in on the bases loaded situation with a grand slam deep to right field, putting the Yankees ahead by four early.

Brett Gardner got his second double in as many at-bats and Chris Young kept the home cooking coming when he went deep to the Crawford boxes one more time, a two-run home run that made Oberholtzer’s bad start worse. He followed by throwing high and in on Alex Rodriguez and this choice of action got him ejected.

For the Yankees, their Wild Card game starter, Masahiro Tanaka, worked with the benefit of six runs.

Masahiro Tanaka allowed two runs in the third inning and a solo home run in the fourth inning by Chris Carter brought the Astros within three. The fifth inning leadoff walk set off a bad set of wheels in motion for the Yankees and their ace. Carlos Correa went the other way with a two-run home run to right field. The Astros were within one and their biggest little hitter dealt the stomach-churning solo home run to tie the game at six.

In five innings, gave up a career-high six runs on seven hits while walking two and striking out five. The three home runs allowed were a career-high.

After two innings, the Yankees were up by six. After five innings, the game was tied at six.

Bryan Mitchell and Chasen Shreve combined for two innings of work, including a bases loaded strikeout by Shreve to keep the game tied.

The Yankees rallied in the eighth inning against Pat Neshek. Gardner began the inning with a walk and a high throw on a ground ball by Chris Young allowed them to be safe. After the first out, Mark Teixeira hit a two-run double off the left center wall, reclaiming the lead for the Yankees. Chase Headley hit a home run to add an additional run in the ninth inning as the Yankees washed away the six-run comeback by the Astros by responding with three late in the game.

Not exactly the start you want to see from your one-game starter but the important fact here is the Yankees did win.

 

June 28: Yankees 1, Astros 3

Following the offensive outbursts in the third game, Michael Pineda and Collin McHugh engaged in a pitcher’s duel. Stephen Drew got the Yankees’ rally started in the third inning when he walked and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Brett Gardner hit a single to center field that brought home Drew and put the Yankees ahead by one.

The Yankees, dealing with injuries, were forced to put an inexperienced, below average fielder in Garret Jones in left field. When a fly ball in the fourth inning went to left center, Garrett Jones and Brett Gardner had a miscommunication. The miscommunication allowed the batter, Carlos Correa, to score and tie the game at one. A hanging slider by Pineda was smashed into left center field where the unconventional dimensions proved crucial. Brett Gardner made a leaping grab against the tall wall but missed it, allowing the less-than-fast Evan Gattis to reach third with a triple, easily scoring Correa and giving the Astros a one-run lead.

One more run came in the eighth inning of Michael Pineda’s complete game effort in a losing cause.

 

August 24: Astros 0, Yankees 1

The Yankees welcomed the Astros into the Bronx with a pitcher’s duel. Nathan Eovaldi matched Scott Feldman zero for zero. A solid defensive play by rookie Greg Bird prevented a run from scoring on an infield ground ball in the sixth inning.

In the seventh inning of this game, Brian McCann and Carlos Beltran started a rally when they were runners on the corners with one out. Chase Headley hit a shallow fly ball to left center where Carlos Gomez made the catch and nailed McCann out at home, maintaining the scoreless tie.

After eight scoreless by Eovaldi, Andrew Miller pitched a scoreless ninth inning with some assistance by the Astros, who ran into a strike ’em out, throw ’em out double play.

In the ninth inning, Brett Gardner was patient enough to walk against Oliver Perez and he advanced on a wild pitch. Alex Rodriguez was intentionally walked with the base open and Brian McCann worked a walk to load the bases. Carlos Beltran jumped on the first pitch from reliever Chad Qualls and brought home Gardner on the walk-off, sacrifice fly for the Yankees to win.

 

August 25: Astros 15, Yankees 1

If the Wild Card game goes the way this one went, the Yankee Stadium crowd will get restless very quickly. Ivan Nova started this game and it was not a high point. Over four innings, Nova surrendered seven runs. After the first inning, the Yankees trailed by five.

For the Astros, Dallas Keuchel took the mound and was completely dominant.

He allowed a single in the first inning to Jacoby Ellsbury and a single to John Ryan Murphy in the second inning. Carlos Beltran got a two-out double in the fourth inning but it didn’t amount to anything. Keuchel finished his strong seven innings by striking out the side. He generated seven ground balls and had the Yankees off balance with pop ups and weak fly balls.

The Yankees cannot model their Wild Card game after this showing against Dallas Keuchel.

 

August 26: Astros 6, Yankees 2

Michael Pineda got the series finale and struggled. Evan Gattis took Pineda deep early in the game and went deep later, against Adam Warren out of the bullpen. Didi Gregorius was the Yankees offense in this game, taking a two-run home run to right field against Astros starter Collin McHugh.

By this point in the year, the offense was already beginning to struggle so the Yankees did not rally beyond the home run by their shortstop.

 


 

Overall, the Yankees lost four of the seven games in this year’s season series with the Houston Astros. Dallas Keuchel pitched brilliantly in his two starts, earning the victory in dominant fashion of both games. Masahiro Tanaka got one start against the second Wild Card team and while he did not pitch well, he did emerge with the victory.

Sprinkled throughout this recap of recaps is the fact that the Yankees have a much different look in June and August than they will on Tuesday, October 6. Jose Pirela and Garrett Jones will not be in left field. A tremendous contributor like Chasen Shreve over the course of the regular season has stumbled lately and will likely not be seen on the Wild Card roster. Michael Pineda and Nathan Eovaldi were prominent over the course of the two times they met up and both had mixed results but neither will factor into the one game left.

Regardless of what the results of the season tell us, tomorrow is all that matters to these two teams. Put together your best lineup, start your best pitcher and put together the best performance you can muster.