Yankees suffer brutal 9-7 loss after bullpen squanders three leads

The Astros took down the Yankees 9-7 as the Yankees pitching coughed up three separate leads. Will Warren got the starting nod for the Yankees and faced off against Ethan Pecko. 

Warren allowed a couple of singles in the top of the first inning and George Lombard Jr. had his fourth error in four games to put runners at the corners with two outs. But Warren induced a groundout to end the inning and strand runners at the corners. 

Luis Garcia Jr. lined a two-out single into right field in the bottom half of the first inning, but Cody Bellinger lined out to end the inning, making it 23 straight first innings without a run for the Yankees. 

Yainer Diaz crushed a solo shot in the top of the second inning to give the Astros an early 1-0 lead. 

In the bottom of the second inning, Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Austin Wells each worked two-out walks. However, José Caballero grounded out to end the inning. 

Daulton Varsho extended the Astros' lead to 2-0 in the top of the third inning with a two-out RBI single. 

Trent Grisham led off the bottom of the third inning with a walk, then Garcia picked up his second hit of the night. The next batter, Cody Bellinger, crushed a three-run bomb, his first home run since June 17, to give the Yankees a 3-2 lead. 

With two outs in the top of the fifth inning, Varsho came through with an RBI single to tie the game up. 

The Yankees responded in the bottom half of the fifth inning: Ben Rice worked a walk thanks to a successful ABS challenge; Garcia followed with a two-run bomb to give the Yankees a 5-3 lead. 

That lead didn't last long as Fernando Cruz replaced Warren and allowed a game-tying two-run bomb to Jeremy Peña. 

Final line for Warren: Five innings pitched, seven hits allowed, three runs, walked two, and struck out four on 97 pitches. He threw his sinker 35% of the time, the sweeper 26%, the fastball 19%, the changeup 15%, and the curveball 5%. Warren topped out at 95.3 mph, sitting around 93.2 mph on his heater, and had seven whiffs. 

Yerry De los Santos took over for Cruz in the top of the seventh and worked a scoreless inning to keep the game tied. 

Garcia gave the Yankees a 6-5 lead in the bottom of the seventh inning via an RBI double, his fourth hit of the night. 

The Astros quickly responded in the top of the eighth inning against Brent Headrick; Diaz crushed his second home run of the night to tie the ballgame. It looked like Headrick struck out Peña to end the inning, but a questionable check swing call kept the at-bat alive and would go on to walk. Yordan Alvarez then came through with an RBI double to give the Astros the lead. Isaac Paredes followed with an RBI single to make it an 8-6 ballgame. 

Spencer Jones led off the bottom of the eighth inning with a rocket double, 112 mph off the bat. Jazz followed with an RBI single to cut the deficit to 8-7. 

Bradley Hanner got the call for the top half of the ninth and quickly picked up the first two outs. Then Hanner allowed a triple followed by an RBI single from Diaz to add a huge insurance run. 

The Yankees went down without much of a fight in the bottom half of the ninth inning to drop a heartbreaker. 

The Yankees will look to bounce back tomorrow with Elmer Rodriguez on the mound facing off against Peter Lambert. The first pitch is slated for 7:05 p.m. ET on the YES Network.

My thoughts on the game: That was, in my opinion, hands down the worst loss of the season. It would have been nice if Brian Cashman traded for bullpen depth at the deadline; that would have been useful. Warren was pretty average, allowing seven hits and three runs; only two were earned due to, I believe, a passed ball. I am not 100% sure; I didn't get to watch the first half of the game tonight. Cruz continued his struggles; he might need a trip to the IL or something. He just doesn't look right. De los Santos did his job with a scoreless inning; his ERA is down to 1.02. Headrick, who has been so good this year, didn't have it, but I think that inning should have been over before he coughed up the lead; they called that check swing a no-swing. And Hanner allowed a run; I don’t know why he is on the roster; he has done absolutely nothing but give up runs since he was called up. The offense was great tonight with 10 hits and seven runs, so that was a positive. Garcia had four hits tonight, easily his best game as a Yankee. Belli crushed his first bomb since returning from the IL. But unfortunately, it wasn't enough because the pitching blew three separate leads. A wasted opportunity to gain a game on the Rays as they lost to the Tigers tonight. The Red Sox also won tonight, so they are just 1.5 games back of the Yankees, with them coming to the Bronx for a four-game series this weekend. On to tomorrow, as the Yankees will look to bounce back.