The Houston Astros activated Bennett Sousa before Saturday’s game hoping the left-hander could provide some stability to a bullpen that has been one of the worst in baseball. What they got instead was a microcosm of everything that has gone wrong in the first month of the season.
Sousa entered in the sixth inning with the game tied 2-2 and promptly walked four batters in a third of an inning, allowing two runs to score without giving up a hit. He left with the Astros trailing 4-2 and never returned. His ERA after his 2026 debut: 54.00.
It was that kind of night.
The Astros fell to the New York Yankees 8-3 at Daikin Park, dropping to 10-18 and losing the first two games of the series. They have been outscored 20-9 in those two games.
Mike Burrows actually gave Houston a respectable start: five innings, two runs, eight strikeouts, holding the Yankees in check long enough to keep the game competitive. Carlos Correa doubled and scored in the first inning on an Isaac Paredes single, giving the Astros an early lead. Correa added a solo homer in the sixth to tie the game at 2-2, his second of the season, and for a moment it looked like Houston might steal one.
Then the bullpen took over.
Steven Okert worked a clean sixth before handing off to Kai-Wei Teng, who had been one of the few reliable arms all season. Austin Wells greeted Teng with a go-ahead solo homer in the top of the seventh, and Sousa came on to face the next batter with runners on base. What followed was a parade of walks—four in a third of an inning—as the Yankees pushed the lead to 5-2 without the benefit of a hit.
AJ Blubaugh inherited the mess and kept it from getting worse in the seventh, but the Yankees added two more in the eighth on singles by Austin Wells and Ryan McMahon. Jayden Murray allowed two more runs in the ninth before Christian Walker ended the night with a solo homer, his sixth of the season, to set the final at 8-3.
José Caballero, who has made the Astros pay all series, hit his third homer of the weekend and drove in four runs over the two games. Jazz Chisholm Jr. walked twice and drove in a run. The Yankees drew 10 walks on the night against Houston pitching.
The Astros went 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position and stranded five. The series concludes Sunday afternoon. Spencer Arrighetti starts for the Astros.
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