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Robinson Cano hit his eighth home run of the season tonight.

Yankees Game 27: Cano, Francisco go deep in finale

Robinson Cano hit his eighth home run of the season tonight.

Houston Astros 4 — New York Yankees 5

 

Yankees take the series with the Astros in tonight’s 5-4 win.

 

The Yankees looked to have a good game from the beginning. Spot starter David Phelps had a quick nine-pitch first inning with three groundouts. The offense got started with a bang too. Ichiro Suzuki led off with a hit that would fall feet short of a home run and would settle for a triple. Jayson Nix would bring him in on a single to give the Yankees the early lead.

In the second inning, Astros starter Erik Bedard lost the strike zone. Three consecutive walks of Travis Hafner, Ben Francisco, (yes, Ben Francisco) and Eduardo Nunez would load the bases and give the Yankees a prime opportunity to open up the game. A sacrifice fly would produce one run in the inning that could have become a lot better. In the third inning, Bedard appeared to find the strike zone, in a way.

On a very bad pitch to Robinson Cano, the Yankees second baseman would take Bedard deep for his eighth home run of the season. Not much later, a player with a big slump in April would turn the page to May. In April, Ben Francisco went 3 for 33 (.103) in April but in May he is a perfect 1 for 1 when he jumped on a 2-0 pitch for his first home run of the season, putting the Yankees ahead by four.

Through three innings, David Phelps faced the minimum, inducing six groundouts including a double play but his fourth inning was a whole different Phelps. He would strikeout the first batter but three consecutive hits brought in one run and created a problem. The next two batters would be hit by pitches, bringing in another run. A ground out and a single would bring in two more runs before Phelps could end the inning. In total, the four-run lead was erased by this four-run fourth inning for the Astros.

Phelps would bounce back well and finish his first start of the season with 5.2 innings. He allowed four runs on eight hits with five strikeouts. In the sixth inning, the Yankees would regain the lead.  With one out and runners on the corners, Ichiro Suzuki would ground into a double play but some heads-up baserunning would prove critical. Lyle Overbay, running from first base, would get caught in a rundown to delay the double play and allow the runner on third base to score.

After Boone Logan got the game to the eighth inning, David Robertson would take on his role. After allowing two runs in yesterday’s game, Robertson would rebound with a pair of strikeouts and a groundout. This would setup Mariano Rivera to close the door in the ninth inning.

After a career-best for April, 10 saves, Mariano Rivera would go right into May with momentum. After a leadoff single, the runner would be erased with a hit-and-run turned into an unassisted double play when Cano would catch the line drive. With three strikes, Mariano Rivera got a strikeout and his 11th save of the season.

In the eighth inning, Brett Gardner got his first hit in two at-bats after pinch-hitting for Ben Francisco in the fifth inning. He would double his stolen base total by stealing second and third. He has four stolen bases this season.

 

Win – Boone Logan (2-1)

Loss – Paul Clemens (1-1)

Save – Mariano Rivera (11)

 

Notables

Astros

*Carlos Pena – 2 for 3, R, BB, RBI (8)

*Jason Castro – 2 for 4, R, 2 2B

Yankees

*Robinson Cano – 1 for 4, R, Solo Home Run (8) in the 3rd, RBI (18)

*Ben Francisco – 1 for 1, R, BB, Solo Home Run (1) in the 3rd, RBI (1)

 

Current Yankees Record: 17-10

 

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