The Yankees’ youngsters drove in four of the team’s five runs in their 5-4 win over the Astros on Saturday night in Houston.
Gleyber Torres remained out of the lineup for the second consecutive game with lower back tightness.
Here are the takeaways…
With Anthony Volpe, Oswald Peraza, Oswaldo Cabrera, Austin Wells. Jasson Dominguez and Everson Pereira in the lineup, this was the first time since September 18, 1932 the Yankees had six position players aged 24 or younger starting and they all contributed.
In the second, Volpe walked after a leadoff single by Giancarlo Stanton. Pereira walked to load the bases and Peraza, mired in an 0-for-18 slump, hit a bloop single with one out to put the Yanks up 1-0. Cabrera worked a walk to push across another run before DJ LeMahieu hit into an inning-ending double play.
– Dominguez hit third in the lineup on Saturday and struggled at the plate. He grounded out in his first at-bat and struck out swinging in his second. He reached on an error in his third at-bat and eventually scored on a Pereira single.
He did pick up a single in his fourth at-bat and finished 1-for-5.
– Wells struck out swinging twice in his first two at-bats, but would have a golden opportunity to put runs on the board in the fifth. With the bases loaded and one out, the left-handed catcher hit a fly ball to center and Judge scored on the sacrifice to tie the game at 4-4. That was also Wells’ first RBI of his major league career. He finished 1-for-3 with three strikeouts.
Peraza would add a double in his second at-bat, his first multi-hit game of the season. He finished 3-for-4 while Pereira went 1-for-3 a walk and Volpe finished 1-for-2 with two walks.
–Luis Severino came into Saturday’s game having pitched two quality starts in a row including not giving up a run in 13.2 straight innings. That would not continue Saturday. After a clean first inning where he was topping off at 98 mph, the Astros would get to him in the second.
A 13-pitch at-bat from Jose Abreu resulted in a walk, which brought up Michael Brantley, who returned from the IL recently. The lefty golfed a two-run shot over the right-field wall to tie the game at 2-2. Houston would continue to make Severino work with foul ball after foul ball to force the righty to throw 40 pitches and run his pitch count to 65 after two.
Severino would give up another longball in the fourth when Yainer Diaz took him deep for a two-run shot which put the Astros up 4-3 at the time. The right-hander would not get past the fourth as he went four innings (104 pitches) giving up four runs on six hits, one walk while striking out three. The Astros fouled off 40 balls against Severino.
–Giancarlo Stanton, one home run away from 400, did not hit the milestone homer. He did finish 1-for-4 and had an RBI single robbed by shortstop Jeremy Pena in his fourth-at-bat.
A day after hitting home run No. 250 for his career, Aaron Judge would launch a solo shot 428 feet in the third inning. It was his 31st of the season.
–Jhony Brito relieved Severino and gave the Yankees 3.2 strong innings while facing the minimum. He gave up two hits while striking out one but induced two double plays. Wandy Peralta (0.1 IP) and Clay Holmes (1 IP) closed out the game for the Yanks.
Highlights
What’s Next
The Yankees conclude their three-game series with the Astros on Sunday night. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m..
The Yankees will send Michael King (3-5, 2.96 ERA) to the mound as their opener to go up against RHP Cristian Javier (9-2, 4.66 ERA).