Houston Astros 0 – New York Yankees 1
It took the Yankees until the ninth inning to win the series opener with the Houston Astros.
Nathan Eovaldi took the mound for the Yankees and was dealing. In the first two innings, Eovaldi struck out five including the first three outs of the game. In fact, through the first four innings, Eovaldi allowed three hits but no runs.
Opposing Eovaldi, Scott Feldman silenced the Yankees bats.
The Yankees saw an opportunity in the third inning. Didi Gregorius and Stephen Drew got on base with a pair of singles but three outs afterwards ended the threat. Through the first four innings against Feldman, the Yankees had four hits with no runs either.
Control escaped Eovaldi when he started walking batters in the middle third of the game. In the fifth inning, Nathan Eovaldi walked two but got two ground outs and a pop out to keep the game scoreless. Eovaldi started the sixth inning by giving up a single before a walk. They advanced on a sacrifice but Greg Bird made a heads-up play on a ground ball by Evan Gattis. Bird abandoned first base and got the runner at second base on a fielder’s choice while freezing the runner at third. This turned out to be a pivotal play as the third out was made without a run scoring.
In the seventh inning, Brian McCann got his third hit of the game, a single. He advanced to third on a sharp single by Carlos Beltran. With runners on the corners and one out, Chase Headley hit a fly ball to shallow left center where Carlos Gomez made the catch and threw home where McCann surprisingly attempted to score.
Catcher Hank Conger made the tag and the inning ended on the double play.
In eight innings, Nathan Eovaldi allowed no runs on four hits with three walks and seven strikeouts.
Eovaldi had his fastball blazing and his splitter diving as the Astros lineup could not get any rally going.
Andrew Miller took over in the ninth inning. He gave up a single to start the inning but the Yankees turned a double play when Miller struck out Luis Valbuena and pinch-runner Jake Marisnick was thrown out trying to steal second base. Miller struck out Chris Carter to end the inning.
For the Yankees to win, they were going to do it in walk-off fashion. Oliver Perez came on for the ninth inning after eight scoreless innings by Feldman. Birthday boy Brett Gardner started the ninth inning by walking. On a wild pitch, Gardner advanced to second base and opened the base for an intentional walk of Alex Rodriguez. Brian McCann walked to load the bases.
Chad Qualls came in to face Carlos Beltran but it took the Yankees right fielder one pitch to get the job done. With a fly ball to center field, Beltran walked off with a sacrifice fly and the Yankees win for a tie of first place in the American League east.
Win – Andrew Miller (2-2)
Loss – Oliver Perez (2-2)
Notables
Astros
*Carlos Correa – 2 for 4
*Evan Gattis – 2 for 4
Yankees
*Carlos Beltran – 1 for 3, Walk-off sacrifice fly, RBI (47)
*Brian McCann – 3 for 3
Current Yankees Record: 69-55
