San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Blown chances lead to 7th straight loss
Alvarez’s 3-run shot, Miley’s masterful early innings wasted
NEW YORK — On the seventh day of a wretched week, the leadoff spot changed hands. It didn’t matter. A timely, two-out hit appeared, and it, too, did not matter. The Astros took the lead in the seventh inning Saturday and, of course, it did not matter.
That each day the Astros discover more dreadful ways to waste away games magnifies this terrible stretch of a still-evolving season. On Saturday, they saw their starting pitcher carry a no-hitter into the fifth inning. A rookie slugger delivered the sort of clutch swing so absent amid this anemic run.
Yet they committed three errors and stranded 11 baserunners. Their best bullpen arm had his worst outing in 11 months. Bringing the goahead run to the plate with one out in the ninth inning was another fruitless endeavor.
Yuli Gurriel bounced out and Tyler White lined out with the bases loaded. The Astros are now 7 for 53 with runners in scoring position in their past seven games — all losses.
The latest, a 7-5 setback at Yankee Stadium on Saturday, at least included signs of life. The Astros amassed 11 hits and, again, created countless chances to take control. All were wasted, by either New York’s defensive wizardry or Houston’s offensive incompetence.
“You feel a little snakebitten when everything seems to have to be perfect for us to piece it together,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “There’s some frustration building, because losing sucks and we’re not putting things together for an entire game to get a win.”
It looked like things finally had come together when Yordan Alvarez’s three-run homer off Jonathan Holder in the seventh inning sent the dugout into a frenzy and gave the Astros a brief lead.
“I thought the dugout was really awake for the first time this whole road trip,” said Josh Reddick, who clobbered a game-tying two-run shot of his own in the sixth. “It was definitely good to see our guys come up and pick up the big hits.”
Before Alvarez’s heroics, Houston had led just three times in its past 60 innings. To protect this lead, manager A.J. Hinch summoned his best reliever. He combusted upon entrance.
Pressly allowed three runs in the seventh, erasing any momentum Alvarez created. Austin Romine rocked a one-out solo homer into the short-porch in right field to tie the game.
DJ LeMahieu singled and Aaron Judge reached on a catcher’s interference — Houston’s third error of an embarrassing defensive display. Giancarlo Stanton then scorched a single past Gurriel at third base, bringing the two go-ahead runs home.
For the first time since the Astros acquired him last July, Pressly allowed more than one run in an outing.
“I felt fine. When things aren’t going your way, they’re not going to go your way,” Pressly said. “Things kind of snowballed on us and it’s tough when things aren’t going your way.”
The Yankees’ potent lineup was under control early as starter Wade Miley carried a no-hitter into the fifth inning. Miley dominated with an array of changeups and cutters that ran down and in against New York’s righthanded-heavy order.
The Yankees swung and missed 14 times while Miley worked. His seven strikeouts were a product of pristine changeup usage.
New York sent the minimum to the plate through three innings. If not for fly ball buffoonery between Jake Marisnick and Josh Reddick in the fourth, Miley could have carried it through four.
Instead, Marisnick dropped the simplest of simple pop flies. Reddick’s ensuing throw slipped from his right hand, sending the baseball backward and social media rushing to render GIFs of the tomfoolery.
The first hit against Miley was Gio Urshela’s two-run homer in the fifth, a sinking liner that just sailed over the short porch in right field, offering starter Masahiro Tanaka some breathing room in a trafficfilled outing.
In six innings Saturday, Tanaka scattered eight hits. The Astros managed a baserunner in all but one inning he worked. Five times, they had a runner in scoring position. Not once did Tanaka allow a hit.
Houston stranded six runners in Tanaka’s six frames. In both the second and third, two runners reached. Each inning finished with a fielder’s choice forceout at third base. Reddick’s two-run shot was the only damage against Tanaka.
Miley walked two to start the sixth. After Luke Voit singled, he was lifted for Will Harris.
Stanton smoked a Harris pitch at 104.2 mph toward third base. Gurriel, playing somewhat out of position given Carlos Correa’s continued absence, moved to his left to try to snare it. If he had, a forceout at home would have been possible. Perhaps even a double play.
“It was hit hard and it was a fieldable ball,” Gurriel said through an interpreter. “But I wasn’t able to field it.”
In the end, it was a chance, something the Astros have had so many times through these past seven games and, yet, always frittered away.
The baseball clanked off Gurriel’s glove, past Bregman backing him up and onto the outfield grass. Two runs scored, inching the Yankees ahead. The Astros later retook the lead but, in the end, it did not matter.