Yankees Game 2: Starlin Castro leads 16-run charge to first '16 win

Starlin Castro plates 5 to lead a 16-run charge by the Yankees in the first win of the season!

Houston Astros 6 – New York Yankees 16

In the lights of New York, Starlin Castro continues shining against the visiting Houston Astros.

Against Michael Pineda, an important player in yesterday's loss, Carlos Correa, struck again. The Astros' star shortstop took Pineda deep for a solo home run in the first inning to put the Yankees in an early hole.

The Yankees responded to the early deficit in a loud way at the expense of the Astros' Collin McHugh.

Jacoby Ellsbury started tonight's game by reaching on catcher's interference. Brett Gardner and Alex Rodriguez followed with a pair of walks and Mark Teixeira brought in the game-tying run on a single. Brian McCann followed with a double for two runs. Carlos Beltran produced the first out of the game but Teixeira scored on the productive out. Chase Headley hit a single to center field, scoring Brian McCann, extending the score to 5-1 and subsequently knocked McHugh out of the game in the first inning. Starlin Castro welcomed reliever Michael Feliz with a run-scoring single to wrap up a six-run first inning.

A five-run lead is more than enough for Michael Pineda to work with, right? Wrong.

Despite striking out two in the inning, Pineda gave up a single, double and hit a batter to load the bases. With two outs, George Springer took Pineda deep for a grand slam, bringing the Astros within one.

Fortunately for the Yankees, a star continues shining. With two on and two outs, Starlin Castro continues turning everything he does into gold when he went to deep left center field for a three-run home run. Castro's first home run as a Yankees gave the Yankees a four-run lead.

In the third inning, Mark Teixeira contributed his first home run of the season with one out and two on. The three-run home run gave the Yankees 12 runs...by the third inning!

Yankees' pitching might see Carlos Correa in their nightmares as he took Pineda deep for his second home run of the game, another solo home run.

In five innings, Michael Pineda allowed six runs on eight hits without a walk and five strikeouts. Not exactly the game he wanted to pitch to begin his season.

In the sixth inning against lefty reliever Tony Sipp, Carlos Beltran got rid of the goose egg in the home run column when he went deep to left field with a solo home run.

By the seventh inning, the bench got to play and Ronald Torreyes made the most of the opportunity. With one on and one out, Torreyes hit a line drive to deep center field and he was off to the races. Torreyes slid into third with a run-scoring triple. Starlin Castro continued adding to his early Yankees legacy with a single to right field, extending the Yankees to a 10-run lead.

While the offense was contributing up, down and to the last man on the bench, Ivan Nova was masterful in relief.

In four scoreless innings, Ivan Nova allowed four hits, walked one and struck out five. Four innings of scoreless relief gave Nova the unconventional save in the Yankees first win of the season.

Win – Michael Pineda (1-0)

Loss – Collin McHugh (0-1)

Save – Ivan Nova (1)

Notables

Astros

*Carlos Correa – 4 for 5, 2 R, 2 Solo home runs (3) in the 1st & 5th, 2 RBI (4)

*George Springer – 1 for 4, R, BB, Grand slam (1) in the 2nd, 4 RBI (4)

Yankees

*Starlin Castro – 4 for 5, R, 2B, Three-run home run (1) in the 2nd, 5 RBI (7)

*Mark Teixeira – 2 for 4, 2 R, Three-run home run (1) in the 3rd, 4 RBI (4)

Current Yankees Record: 1-1