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New York Yankees Earn Series Win In Houston (Highlights)

By
Emmanuel Berbari
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The New York Yankees continued their recent string of success with a second straight win over the Astros.

  • New York Yankees: 6 (52-48)
  • Houston Astros: 3 (54-46)
  • American League, FINAL, Box Score
  • Minute Maid Park, Houston, TX

One hot stretch is all that was need for the New York Yankees to taste relevancy in the American League. With the outstanding stretch of baseball the past week has featured, they have climbed right into the thick of the playoff race.

Another promising win against a playoff-caliber team tonight marked the eighth win in 10 games for Joe Girardi’s team. Furthermore, they decreased their deficit to two games of the second-place Astros in the wild card race and 6.5 games in AL East lead.

Fittingly enough, it was the dominant starting pitching paving the way once again tonight. CC Sabathia fired 6.2 stellar frames in which he allowed a mere four hits and two runs while striking out five. The 36-year-old southpaw put an end to a rough patch that saw him go 0-4 with a 6.59 ERA in seven starts leading into today.

His control of the game gave the Bombers a chance to pounce on Doug Fister, who toed the rubber for the Astros. The right-hander surrendered nine hits and six earned runs over 4.2 subpar frames in an outing he may want to quickly put in the rearview mirror.

Two runs in the second, one in the third, and three in the fifth highlighted the scoring for the Yanks, who are making every possible case to keep the remaining assets in pinstripes for a crack at the postseason. The victory improved them to a season-high four games above .500 at 52-48.

Highlights

Almost identically to last night, the Astros got on the board with a first inning home run. Marwin Gonzalez lifted a solo shot to left to give Houston an early 1-0 lead.

However, the Yankees would promptly get back even. In the top of the second, Didi Gregorius plated a run with a sacrifice fly and Chase Headley followed with an RBI single later in the frame give the Yankees a lead they would not relinquish.

In the following inning, it was Starlin Castro getting in on the fun with an RBI infield single which scored Carlos Beltran.

Despite a solid 3-1 advantage with Sabathia on the hill, the Yanks were not satisfied. Headley extended the lead with a sacrifice fly in the fifth, and Aaron Hicks, of all people, put the icing on the cake with a two-run triple into the right field corner. When it was all said and done, the lead had grown to 6-1.

Evan Gattis and Marwin Gonzalez — second of the game — blasted solo shots in the seventh and eighth innings, respectively, to give the Astros some life, but Dellin Betances stranded the bases loaded in the bottom half of the eighth to preserve a 6-3 lead.

Andrew Miller came on in the ninth inning and worked around a one-out double, striking out the last two men he faced for his ninth save of the year and second in a row since Aroldis Chapman was dealt.

What’s Next?

After taking the first two, the Yankees will go for the sweep of the Astros tomorrow night.

Given the circumstances, they will have the right man on the mound to do so. Ace Masahiro Tanaka (7-2, 3.00 ERA) will take the ball for New York opposing Lance McCullers (5-4, 3.33 ERA).

First pitch will commence at 8:10 pm ET from Minute Maid Park in the series finale. The game can be seen on YES and heard on WFAN 660/101.9 FM.

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