Astros 9, Yankees 7, and the final score doesn't begin to cover how many times this one flipped. Five home runs left the Stadium Tuesday night -- Cody Bellinger and Luis García Jr. both went deep for New York -- and none of it mattered because Yainer Diaz decided he was beating the Yankees by himself.
The Yankees led three separate times and gave every one of them back. By the time Houston's bullpen locked the door in the ninth, a one-run cushion built by the middle of the order was gone -- undone by one relief inning that fell apart in a hurry.
The Eighth Inning Blew It Open
New York carried a 6-5 lead into the top of the eighth, and Brent Headrick couldn't hold it. He struck out Cam Smith to open the frame, but Diaz answered with his second solo homer of the night to tie it at six. A Nelson Velázquez flyout made it look like Headrick might wriggle out of it, but Jeremy Peña singled, Yordan Alvarez tripled him home, and Isaac Paredes singled Alvarez in right behind him. Bradley Hanner came on and got the third out, but the damage was done -- Houston led 8-6.
(Headrick's final line: two-thirds of an inning, four hits, three earned runs. Not the outing he wanted.)
Yainer Diaz Ruined the Night
Give the credit where it's due -- Diaz went 3-for-4 with two home runs and three RBI, and by win probability, nobody swung this game harder in either dugout. His first blast came off Will Warren in the second inning, a 383-foot fly ball to left-center. His second came off Headrick in the eighth, 356 feet on a ball that barely had to work to leave the yard. Two different Yankees pitchers, same result.
(There's a version of this game where the Yankees hang on if Diaz doesn't touch them twice. There isn't a version where the Astros win without him.)
Bellinger and García Kept It Competitive
It wasn't like the Bombers didn't answer. Bellinger crushed a three-run shot off Ethan Pecko in the third -- 368 feet, 102 mph off the bat -- to erase an early 2-0 deficit and put New York in front 3-2. Two innings later, García worked a full count against Pecko and turned it into a two-run homer of his own, 379 feet to right at 109.5 mph, pushing the Yankees out front 5-3.
It didn't last long. Fernando Cruz took over in the sixth, walked Diaz, and watched Peña tie it right back up with a two-run homer of his own. García came back with an RBI double in the seventh to put New York back on top 6-5 -- the lead Headrick couldn't protect an inning later.
Warren, at least, did his part before any of that. Five innings, seven hits, three runs -- two earned -- four strikeouts. Not dominant, but he kept the Yanks in position to win a game their offense was clearly ready to play.
The Pen Couldn't Close It Out
Jazz Chisholm Jr. cut the deficit to 8-7 with an RBI single in the bottom of the eighth off Bryan Abreu, and for a minute the Stadium had reason to believe. Austin Wells grounded into a double play the very next at-bat, and Josh Hader came on just to get the final out, striking out Trent Grisham to end the threat. It didn't matter. In the ninth, Cam Smith tripled off Hanner and scored on a Diaz single -- Diaz took second on a Bellinger fielding error on the same play -- and that was the final margin: 9-7.
Abreu got the win in relief, Hader picked up the save, and Headrick wore the loss for the eighth-inning meltdown that decided it.
The Yankees are 74-57 and still 3.5 back in the East, and this one stings more than it should this late in August -- a game they led three times and lost late. Two more with Houston at the Stadium this week. They'd better be sharper.
Jimmy writes the Bronx Pinstripes game recap after every Yankees game. Beat-reporter pacing, fan's heartbeat. He calls opposing players by last name and has no patience for dead-air innings.
