Yordan Alvarez produced a four-hit game and the Houston Astros rallied from a three-run deficit to defeat the visiting New York Yankees 8-7 on Wednesday.
The Astros (77-63) snapped an eight-game home losing streak to the Yankees (77-62) by clawing back against New York’s bullpen, and extended their lead in the American League West to four games over the Seattle Mariners, who lost earlier to the Tampa Bay Rays.
Alvarez went 4-for-5 while Jeremy Pena finished 2-for-4 and smacked his 15th home run. The Astros tallied four runs in the bottom of the eighth inning off Yankees right-hander Devin Williams (3-6), who issued a bases-loaded walk to Taylor Trammell and was ejected by plate umpire Brian Walsh as he left the mound. Yankees manager Aaron Boone was also ejected.
Pena extended the lead to 6-4 with a single off Yankees reliever Camilo Doval, who balked home Christian Walker and uncorked a wild pitch that scored Trammell later in the frame.
The fourth run in the eighth proved critical when Yankees right fielder Cody Bellinger blasted his 27th home run, a three-run shot, off Astros closer Bryan Abreu with two outs in the ninth. Abreu recorded a called third strike on Jazz Chisholm Jr. to end the game.
Yankees rookie right-hander Will Warren faced one batter over the minimum and limited the Astros to a pair of singles through four innings. But after Ramon Urias produced a sacrifice fly that scored Yainer Diaz and cut the deficit to 3-1 in the fifth, Pena smacked a leadoff homer to left in the sixth that chased Warren.
Alvarez doubled and scored off Yankees reliever Fernando Cruz to pull the Astros to within 4-3. An inning later, Alvarez added a game-tying RBI single that scored pinch-runner Jacob Melton.
Astros right-hander Jason Alexander twirled six shutout innings against the Yankees last month. He did not enjoy the same level of success in the rematch.
Giancarlo Stanton slugged the first of two Yankees homers off Alexander leading off the second, a 403-foot shot to left that would have exited the park if the retractable roof was open. Alexander allowed a double to Austin Wells later in the frame, but limited the damage to a run. But after stranding Aaron Judge at second in the third, Alexander found trouble in the fourth.
Wells recorded his second hit in as many plate appearances against Alexander with one out in the fourth by driving a 3-2 sinker into the left-field seats. Wells’ 20th home run followed a Ben Rice single and extended the Yankees’ lead to 3-0.
