It was a challenging evening for the Yankees’ pitching staff in their game against the Astros on Tuesday, as their first two pitchers continued a troubling trend of allowing runs. Struggling on the mound were key contributors whose recent performances had already raised eyebrows.
However, Brent Headrick was not expected to join that group. Up until this outing, his stats had remained strong and consistent.
Yet, in a game that saw the Yankees claw back to seize the lead on three separate occasions, Headrick’s timing for an off night couldn’t have been worse. The eighth inning became a turning point, as he allowed three crucial runs, leading to a nail-biting 9-7 defeat in The Bronx.
Earlier, as Will Warren and Fernando Cruz struggled to maintain advantages, the Yankees’ hitters offered an uncharacteristic lifeline, allowing the team to flip roles and put Headrick in position with a 6-5 lead at the start of the eighth inning.
Unfortunately, Headrick struggled to replicate his season-long reliability, surrendering the lead at the worst possible time. The Yankees, now standing at 74-57, let an opportunity slide to close in on the Rays, who maintain a 3 ½ game lead in the division.
The Red Sox, who will arrive in town this weekend for a huge four-game showdown, won in extra innings and moved within 1 ¹/₂ games of the Yankees.
The Astros (66-66), who used their off day Monday to fire general manager Dana Brown with five weeks left in the regular season, are still right in the thick of the playoff race (thanks to a weak American League and in particular AL West) and played like a desperate bunch.
They scored in six of the nine innings, erasing Yankees leads of 3-2, 5-3 and 6-5.
Headrick, who has emerged as one of the Yankees’ best bullpen arms while making the second-most appearances in the majors, had given up a total of three runs over his past 21 games before Tuesday. But Yainer Diaz took him deep for his second home run of the night to tie it 6-6 with one out.
The Astros then took the 8-6 lead by stringing together a Jeremy Peña single, Yordan Alvarez triple and Isaac Paredes single off Headrick.
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The Yankees threatened to come back once more in the bottom of the eighth, but their rally ended at just one run.
Another encouraging night for their offense was negated by their pitchers giving up more than five runs for the first time since Aug. 3.
Luis García Jr. did everything he could for the Yankees on a four-hit night, twice giving them the lead — his two-run blast making it 5-3 in the fifth inning and an RBI double putting them back on top 6-5 in the seventh.
But neither one lasted.
The first was because of Cruz, who continued to struggle in one of the more concerning trends for the bullpen of late. The righty walked a batter in the sixth and then with two outs, left a fastball down the middle for Peña, who drilled a two-run shot that tied the game 5-5.
Cruz has now given up at least one run in eight of his past 16 appearances, posting a 5.93 ERA in 13 ²/₃ innings during that stretch. Of the seven home runs he has allowed this season, four have come in 10 August games.
Warren labored through five innings — only one of which did not involve allowing a base runner — while giving up three runs (two earned). It continued a stretch of starts in which the right-hander has not been sharp, and while that looked like it would punch his ticket to the bullpen down the stretch, he is now further entrenched in the rotation after Ryan Weathers landed on the injured list on Sunday.
Even after Warren gave up a second RBI single to Daulton Varsho in the fifth inning that tied the game 3-3, he left in line for the win thanks to García, who crushed a two-run shot off Astros rookie starter Ethan Pecko in the bottom of the frame to put the Yankees ahead 5-3.
Cody Bellinger had gotten the Yankees lineup started, taking Pecko deep for a three-run homer — his first since June 17 — that put them ahead 3-2 in the third inning.