For six innings Wednesday night, the Houston Astros were very much in a baseball game. Then came the seventh.
The New York Yankees broke open a tie game with four runs against Bennett Sousa and went on to beat the Astros 9-3 at Yankee Stadium, evening the three-game series and dropping Houston below .500 at 66-67.
Peter Lambert gave the Astros exactly the kind of start they needed after his disastrous outing against the Angels last week. Houston’s offense, however, managed only four hits, and the bullpen turned a close game into a rout.
Lambert Keeps Astros Close
Houston struck first in the opening inning after Isaac Paredes drew a two-out walk and Jose Altuve doubled him home for a 1-0 lead.
The Yankees answered immediately. Ben Rice homered off Lambert, and Luis García Jr. later scored following a throwing error by Christian Walker to give New York a 2-1 lead.
Daulton Varsho tied the game with a solo homer in the fourth, his 10th of the season, but the Yankees regained the lead in the bottom of the inning when Jazz Chisholm Jr. scored on Trent Grisham’s double-play grounder.
Lambert held it there. The right-hander allowed three runs, only two earned, on seven hits and three walks while striking out five over 5 2/3 innings. Kai-Wei Teng came in with two outs in the sixth and retired José Caballero to end the inning.
Astros Tie It, Then Everything Falls Apart
Houston pulled even again in the seventh.
Altuve walked after successfully challenging a called strike, and Varsho followed with a double. Christian Walker reached on George Lombard Jr.’s error, allowing Altuve to score and tying the game 3-3.
Houston had an opportunity for considerably more. With runners at the corners and nobody out, Taylor Trammell hit into a fielder’s choice that erased Varsho at the plate. LaMonte Wade Jr. then walked to load the bases, but Christian Vázquez and Jeremy Peña struck out to strand all three runners.
Then Sousa entered. By the time he left, the game had changed completely.
Trent Grisham singled. Rice walked. García singled to load the bases. Cody Bellinger drove in two with a double. After Sousa struck out George Lombard Jr., Spencer Jones singled home another run, and Chisholm doubled in a fourth.
Sousa recorded one out while allowing five hits, one walk, and four earned runs. It was his second damaging appearance in five days. On Saturday against the Athletics, Sousa entered the eighth with Houston leading 3-1 and recorded just one out while allowing three runs in a 4-3 loss. In those two appearances combined, he has allowed seven earned runs while recording only two outs.
Enyel De Los Santos finally stopped the inning with consecutive strikeouts, but New York had a 7-3 lead. García added a two-run homer off De Los Santos in the eighth to make it 9-3.
Four Hits Aren’t Going to Do It
The seventh-inning bullpen collapse decided the game, but Houston’s offense didn’t provide much room for error.
The Astros finished with four hits. Varsho had two of them, including his homer and double. Altuve doubled and drove in a run, while Yordan Alvarez supplied Houston’s only other hit.
Houston went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position. Peña struck out three times, including with the bases loaded to end the seventh.
A night after scoring nine runs on 12 hits against New York, the Astros’ offense went quiet.
The AL West Trudges On
The frustration surrounding the AL West race is becoming harder to disguise, even in the broadcast booth.
Todd Kalas and Geoff Blum joked that when the regular season finally ends, somebody will have won the division. Whether that team will finish above .500 is another matter.
Blum suggested it would probably end in a three-way tie and be settled by rock-paper-scissors.
At this point, that sounds about as reasonable as anything else.
The Astros will get another chance to win the series Thursday in the Bronx, with Hayden Wesneski facing Gerrit Cole. First pitch is at 6:05 Central.
Heading to Daikin Park soon? Check our complete Astros promotions schedule before your next game.
