Yankees Game 3: Teixeira, offense fight for the series win

Mark Teixeira broke the 5-5 tie with an opposite field home run to take the opening series of the season.

Houston Astros 5 – New York Yankees 8

In the rubber match of the opening series for the Yankees with the visiting Astros, determined to comeback, the Yankees rallied back to win the series.

After a scoreless inning by the Yankees' Nathan Eovaldi and the Astros' Mike Fiers; the Astros made it on the board first and fast. After striking out the first two batters of the inning, Nathan Eovaldi surrendered a double to Luis Valbuena. Seemingly harmless, rookie Tyler White made Eovaldi pay with a two-run home run, the first of his career. Going back-to-back with White, Preston Tucker added a home run of his own to put the Astros ahead by three.

In the bottom of the second inning, the Yankees came out in attack mode with a pair of singles by Mark Teixeira and Brian McCann. After one out, Chase Headley hit a fly ball deep enough for a sacrifice fly, putting the Yankees on the board.

After a scoreless third inning by Eovaldi, Didi Gregorius led off the bottom half of the inning with a single and Jacoby Ellsbury brought home Didi with a double, bringing the Yankees within one. However, in the fourth inning, Tyler White struck for two more runs by hitting a single to bring home Rasmus and Gomez to extend the Astros lead back to 5-2.

In the bottom half of the fourth inning, Brian McCann sparked the comeback with some instant offense with a line drive solo home run just fair in right field. Two outs later, Starlin Castro continued his torrid offense with a solo home run to bring the Yankees within one.

Nathan Eovaldi pitched a scoreless fifth inning and staved the Astros offense long enough for the Yankees to comeback. In the bottom half of the fifth inning, Jacoby Ellsbury led off with a double. One out later, Alex Rodriguez cleared some zeroes on his season with his first hit and first run batted in, tying the game at 5.

In five innings, Nathan Eovaldi allowed five runs on six hits without a walk and seven strikeouts. He needed an inefficient 94 pitches to get through his first start of the season.

Kirby Yates pitched a scoreless inning of relief in his Yankees debut and Chasen Shreve followed with a scoreless seventh inning too. In the bottom half of the seventh inning, Mark Teixeira came to the plate with one out and two on and he went the other way against reliever Ken Giles. The three-run home run to left field just cleared the wall, giving the Yankees the first lead of the game at a score of 8-5.

Dellin Betances pitched a scoreless eighth inning, striking out two, in a good bounce back from his Opening Day struggles. Andrew Miller made his 2016 season debut in the ninth inning. Despite giving up a pair of singles, Miller proceeded to strike out three, stranding the tying run at the plate and winning the series for the Yankees.

Win – Chasen Shreve (1-0)

Loss – Will Harris (0-1)

Save – Andrew Miller (1)

Notables

Astros

*Tyler White – 3 for 4, R, Two-run home run (1) in the 2nd, 4 RBI (4)

*Preston Tucker – 1 for 2, R, Solo home run (1) in the 2nd, RBI (1)

Yankees

*Mark Teixeira – 2 for 4, 2 R, Three-run home run (2) in the 7th, 3 RBI (7)

*Jacoby Ellsbury – 2 for 5, R, 2 2B, RBI (1)

Current Yankees Record: 2-1