Astros throw away game to Yankees on errors stranded baserunners. When Houston Astros shortstop Jeremy Peña took a slow hit from New York Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe in the eighth inning, his next call came a millisecond too late.
He threw a pitch to Jose Altuve to try to advance to second, but it fell well short of the veteran outfielder, who was desperately trying to get the ball back with his bare hands .
The error allowed Yankees first baseman Anthony Rizzo, who hit a single in the top of the frame, to score from second, and Alex Verdugo easily crossed second and advanced to third.
Volpe came in first to place the riders in the corners.
Immediately, the Yankees broke what had been just a game.
Soon after, the proceedings devolved into a home-run deluge that saw the Astros fall to the Yankees for the second straight day, losing 7-1 at Minute Maid Park.
“It was just a mistake, it happened, he has the gold glove and if he wanted to play 20 years in the big leagues, he would have done more,” Altuve said.
The second domino to fall in the eighth inning occurred after Yankees catcher Austin Wells made a safe catch against Astros reliever Parker Mushinski, who missed the first pitch and allowing Verdugo to score from third.
Oswaldo Cabrera followed with a two-run single, adding the third and fourth runs of the inning before the Astros called Brandon Bielak out of the bullpen.
“It’s a very difficult play to defend, it’s a play you usually want to run from the get-go,” Astros manager Joe Espada said.
Bielak scores his second and final takedown to close out the round.
He gave up a home run to Giancarlo Stanton in the ninth to end his 1st and 2/3rd frame on the mound.
Mistakes from the Astros bullpen also cast a shadow over a night in which right-hander Cristian Javier held New York scoreless with four hits in six innings.
Right-hander Tayler Scott, making his second straight appearance, was removed in the seventh inning after allowing two walks and a run scored in the first inning for the Yankees.
He hit another batter with a pitch before Rafael Montero ended the inning.
Mushinkski, who made the team to open spring training for the first time in his career, finished eighth.
Such a position is usually reserved for Bryan Abreu, however, the 26-year-old is serving a two-game suspension from last year’s American League Championship Series.
“I tried to save Montero with the lead on lap eight, trying to piece him together as best I could, but we had to bring him in for some big takedowns,” Espada said.
Although on the surface the Astros’ collapse appeared to be led by the first two errors, the evening’s loss could also have been due to Houston’s inability to capitalize on scoring opportunities.
The Astros stranded 11 runners and went 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position on Friday — a recurring problem with last year’s team, especially at home.
It was also the second night in a row that the Astros left 10 or more runners stranded on the basepaths against the Yankees.
The final disturbance occurred on the ninth.
Gleyber Torres of the Yankees threw the ball to first on a double play attempt, but Alvarez accidentally returned to the bag and realized too late that he had not been hit.
“At that point, we were 2-1 down and we didn’t score again,” Altuve said.
“We will have games like this and it’s important to come back tomorrow and enjoy