HOUSTON — The Yankees have played 14 teams and have a track record against all but one.
It shouldn’t be hard to find an exception, as the Yankees lost 2-1 to the Astros on Thursday — and have lost three of the team’s five meetings so far this year.
They’ve also been on a run or fewer in three of those games, including last week’s no-hitter in the Bronx.
“They’re good,” Aaron Boone said of why Houston’s pitchers were so effective against his team. “They are one of the best teams when it comes to stopping you from scoring.”
That game ended the Yankees’ four-game winning streak as the visitors opened up a 10-game tour of four cities in front of a sold-out crowd of 40,674 at Minute Maid Park, in a make-up of a game scheduled for week one was the regular season but was pushed back due to the MLB lockout.
However, Boone is confident that something positive will emerge from the results.
Alex Bregman’s double-double against Luis Severino in the third inning was the difference in the Yankees’ 2-1 loss to Astros.AP; Getty Images
“They did a good job of keeping us down for the most part,” the manager said of the first-place Astros. “Sometimes that will happen against good teams. We have to learn from all of this and hopefully gain some important information when we face their boys.”
The loss brought the Yankees’ best MLB tally to 56-21 as Luis Severino – who faced a lineup without Yordan Alvarez and Jeremy Pena, who were injured when they collided while trying to play at Citi Field on Wednesday – Luis García was overtaken.
Severino allowed just a few runs in six innings — thanks to a two-run double from Alex Bregman in the third — but the Yankees only came up with a homer from Anthony Rizzo in the sixth.
The Yankees only managed a walk against Garcia by the third when Joey Gallo walked and knocked out DJ LeMahieu with an out.
But Aaron Judge flew in the middle and Rizzo struck to end their first threat of the night.
The Astros — who have won five of six — loaded bases late in the inning when Severino allowed Jake Meyers a leadoff double and Aledmys Diaz and Kyle Tucker two-out walks.
After hitting Tucker on foot in a nine-pitch at-bat, Severino passed a two-run double off the left fieldwall to Bregman.
The inning ended in a wild manner when Severino had trouble with PitchCom and took the tackle out of his hat, causing Tucker to break home, but Severino recovered in time to get the ball to Jose Trevino for the final and take him to keep a game with two runs.
Anthony Rizzo laces a solo home run in the sixth inning of the Yankees’ loss. USA TODAY Sports
Severino then retired the last nine batters he faced.
The Yankees eventually caught up with Garcia at the top of the sixth.
After the right-handed judge called the whistle to start the inning, Rizzo fell 2-0 down before ripping a homer to the right to reduce the lead to 2-1.
It snatched a 1-for-34 sled from Rizzo, ending Garcia’s night.
Giancarlo Stanton bested Ryne Stanek and Gleyber Torres pulled a two-out walk, but Trevino landed on the floor and the Yankees fell to 0-on-3 with runners in goal position.
Hector Neris and Rafael Montero played scoreless innings in Houston’s bullpen before Ryan Pressly, who had a missed save against the Yankees last week, survived the ninth to salvage the win.
It was a one-day stop in Houston for the Yankees amid 20 games in 20 days, sandwiched between Wednesday’s win over the A’s in the Bronx and Friday’s series opener against the Guardians in Cleveland.
And as challenging as the schedule is, it’s clear that the Astros will be tough to beat by any means. The Yankees will return to Houston later in July — and maybe October.
“There’s a long way to go from that, but it wouldn’t surprise me if it were,” said Josh Donaldson of his postseason stint with the Astros. “But we can’t think about that at the moment.”