Dellin out of mix as Robertson rocked

HOUSTON — Joe Girardi’s diminished confidence in AllStar setup man Dellin Betances was bound to come back and bite the Yankees during this postseason run, and this likely was that time.

David Robertson, so reliable since his reacquisition in late July and through most of October, was entrusted with keeping the Yanks close when he was summoned with a two-run deficit in the eighth inning of Game 6 of the ALCS on Friday night.

The righty reliever promptly was smacked for a solo homer by Jose Altuve — and surprisingly was left in to allow three more hits without recording an out — as the Astros ran away with a 7-1 victory to force Game 7 on Saturday at Minute Maid Park.

“I threw it exactly where I wanted to, and he hit it out of the park,” Robertson said of Altuve’s leadoff shot to left, the AL MVP candidate’s first homer of the series. “I didn’t get the job done today. I know it would have been nice to get a 1-2-3 inning right there and give us a chance to come back in the ninth, but I just went out there and got my butt kicked.”

Betances essentially had lost any meaningful relief role with multiple late-season and postseason bouts with wildness. The four-time All-Star was lifted after walking the only two batters he faced in each of his previous two appearances — with a 7-3 lead in the Yanks’ Game 4 win against Cleveland on Oct. 9 in the division series and then again a week later with an eight-run bulge in Game 3 of this series.

That inability to throw strikes raised the valid question of whether Betances even would be included on a potential World Series roster if the Yanks advance to the Fall Classic.

Thus, it was somewhat surprising to see the 6-foot-8 righty up and warming in Friday’s seventh inning with the Yanks trailing 3-0 against Houston workhorse Justin Verlander.

After Aaron Judge lofted a towering homer to the elevated train tracks above the wall in left-center against reliever Brad Peacock in the eighth, Betances sat down and Girardi instead turned to Robertson for the bottom half.

One of three current Yanks to be active members of their previous World Series team in 2009, Robertson has been a terrific pickup — coming with fellow reliever Tommy Kahnle and third baseman Todd Frazier from the White Sox — since returning to the Bronx at the trade deadline. He’d posted a 1.03 ERA over 30 games down the stretch of the regular season, and a 1.64 ERA through his first six postseason appearances.

Not this time. The overdue Astros’ lineup knocked him around — Altuve’s homer, plus a hard-hit double by Carlos Correa, a single by Yuli Gurriel and a two-run double by Alex Bregman. It was the first time in Robertson’s 10-year career that he allowed at least four hits without recording an out.

“I think they were just all over me,” he said. “They had the lead. They had the crowd behind them and every good pitch I made got hit. That’s baseball. They’re a good team. They wouldn’t be here if they weren’t. Tomorrow is Game 7 and we’ll come back and be ready to go again.”

Girardi probably should have pulled Robertson a batter or two earlier once Houston had extended the lead to further preserve him for Saturday. The righty has made seven appearances and logged 11 innings already during this October run, yet he insisted that he will be among those “ready to go” as the Yanks look to improve to 5-0 in elimination games in the playoffs.

“Yeah, I only think I threw 12 pitches,” Robertson said. “I didn’t get an out, but I gave everything I had. They just got me today.”

Notably, Chad Green recorded seven outs in relief of Luis Severino bridging the fifth and seventh innings, likely burning him for Game 7, as well.

“Maybe in an emergency, but I don’t know right now,” Green said after the game.

Girardi admitted as much afterward, but surmised he’ll “have everyone else, though.”

Betances at least mopped up and tossed a scoreless inning in relief of Robertson, but the odds of him being entrusted with any high-leverage innings on Saturday — or should the Yanks move on to face the Dodgers — still appear slim.

The Yanks’ pen had been an expected strength and the projected advantage in this series over what Houston manager A.J. Hinch has been dealing with from the other dugout, even using closer Ken Giles for 23 pitches with a sixrun lead in the ninth. Who knows if co-aces Dallas Keuchel and the “superhuman” Verlander, as his manager called him, will be used out of their pen in Game 7.

“There was no tomorrow, so we didn’t have the luxury of limping into that inning,” Hinch said. “We’ve seen how these guys can explode in these innings. We just wanted the three outs. We wanted to shake hands and get to tomorrow.”

Robertson, on this night, couldn’t get the Yanks to the ninth within two runs. Betances once again wasn’t even trusted with that opportunity.