Yankees take series with 8-3 win, extend streak to eight
- Davis Cornell
- Apr 25
- 5 min read
The Yankees beat the Astros 8-3 to win the series and their eighth straight game. Yankees' newest dad, Ryan Weathers, got the starting nod and faced off against Astros right-hander Mike Burrows.
“It's definitely been crazy, but it's been great,” Weathers said. “Obviously, had my son two days ago, and my son is doing great, mom's doing great. So it was fun just to play baseball and get back out there.”
Ben Rice lined a one-out single to right in the top of the first inning, and Cody Bellinger was able to draw a two-out walk. But Jazz Chisholm Jr. grounded out to first base to strand both runners.
Isaac Paredes kicked off the scoring in the bottom of the inning with an RBI single down the third base line, giving the Astros a 1-0 lead.
José Caballero led off the third with a bunt single, then immediately swiped second base, his 10th stolen base of the season. However, Caballero attempted to steal third and was thrown out. Two pitches later, Trent Grisham sent a solo shot the other way into the Crawford Boxes, his fourth of the year to knot the ballgame up at 1-1.
Weathers retired the Astros in order in the third and fourth innings with a couple of strikeouts in the process, putting his total up to four for the ballgame and making it 11 straight hitters retired.
Caballero made up for getting thrown out trying to steal in the top of the fifth inning with a solo homer into the Crawford Boxes, his second in as many days and third of the season to give the Yankees a 2-1 advantage.
Weathers surrendered a leadoff single in the bottom of the fifth to break up his streak of 11 straight hitters retired. Weathers would erase that runner with a pickoff and would go on to work a scoreless frame.
In the bottom of the sixth, Carlos Correa crushed a solo bomb on a hanging sweeper to tie the ballgame at two apiece. Weathers then surrendered a single to left field and picked up a 367-foot flyout to end his night. Fernando Cruz replaced him and walked the first batter he faced on four pitches. But Cruz dialed it in and recorded back-to-back punchouts to strand the go-ahead run at second.
Final line for Weathers: 5.1 innings pitched, surrendered six hits, allowed two runs, did not walk anybody, and punched out four on 86 pitches. He threw his fastball 35% of the time, the chanegup 27%, the sweeper 21%, the slider 10%, and the sinker 7%. Weathers topped out at 97.5 and sat at 96.1 mph on his heater, with 12 whiffs on the night.
“I thought he was really sharp,” Wells said of Weathers. “I mean, got beat on two sliders. Like, I thought everything else was really good, and he did a really good job managing. Throughout the game, that's a good lineup. A lot of righties in there against him, so he did a really good job.”
Austin Wells led off the seventh inning with a solo home run just out of the reach of Astros right fielder Cam Smith to give the Yankees a 3-2 lead.
“I don't know, the bat just got to it, I don't know,” Wells said. “He made a good pitch, got the bat to it. Had just enough to get out.”
Caballero then singled to left, his third knock of the ballgame, but was thrown out trying to steal third for the second time tonight after Grisham worked a walk. Rice then lined a single to center that would have scored Caballero, his third hit of the night. Judge worked a two-out walk to load the bases, Belli and Jazz worked walks of their own to bring across two runs and extend the Yankees' lead to 5-2.
Jake Bird came in relief for Cruz in the bottom of the seventh and worked a nice and easy 1-2-3 inning.
Wells led off the eighth with a walk, Ryan McMahon then lined a single to left center, and Grisham worked a walk to load the bases with one out. Rice just missed a grand slam with a 399-foot sacrifice fly to right center, extending the Yankees' lead to 6-2.
Camilo Doval came in relief for Bird in the bottom of the eighth and worked a scoreless frame thanks to a beautiful diving stop from Jazz.
Belli led off the top of the ninth with a walk, then went first to third on a perfectly executed hit and run on an Amed Rosario single to right. Wells drove in Wells on an RBI single up the middle. McMahon followed with a line drive RBI single to right, making it 8-2.
Tim Hill got the call for the bottom of the ninth inning and served up a leadoff solo home run to Christian Walker to cut the Yankees' lead to 8-3. Hill would pick up the final three outs to give the Yankees their eighth straight victory and the series win.
The Yankees will look to complete the sweep tomorrow with Luis Gil on the mound, facing off against Spencer Arrighetti. The first pitch is slated for 2:10 p.m. ET on the YES Network.
“Go out there with Louie tomorrow and fill it up and keep swinging it,” Wells said.
My thoughts on the game: Solid start from Weathers, didn't go crazy deep into the game, but set the Yankees up nicely to win the series. Cruz got out of a big jam with a couple of strikeouts. Doval looked really good tonight, and the velocity was up, hitting 100 mph a couple of times. Hill surrendered a homer, but no better situation to do that than when the Yankees have a six-run lead. Three hit night from Caballero, including another bomb, but he did get thrown out twice trying to steal third. Rice with a three-hit night, as well as he just continues to hit and just missed a grand slam, would have been in 17/30 ballparks. Rice is now hitting .337 with a 1.216 OPS and nine homers. Grisham went deep as well and drew a pair of walks. Wells and McMahon also each had multi-hit games; it would be huge for the bottom of the lineup if they could heat up. Eight walks from the Yankees tonight, just great at-bats up and down the lineup. On to tomorrow as the Yankees will look to complete the sweep and win their ninth straight.
“I think we're specific in what we're trying to do,” Wells said. “And, you know, we're OK with walks and moving on to the next guy in the lineup. We got nine dangerous guys, so we'll take that chance every day.”
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