Trent Grisham slugged a tiebreaking homer with two outs in the eighth inning and the host New York Yankees recorded a 5-4 victory over the Houston Astros on Saturday afternoon.
Grisham had three hits after entering the game in a 5-for-36 slide and he snapped a 4-4 tie by blasting a full-count fastball from Bryan King (3-3) into the second deck in right field.
Grisham’s 21st homer occurred after Camilo Doval and David Bednar contributed to the Yankees blowing a 4-2 lead in the top half.
Doval allowed an RBI single to Jose Altuve after committing a throwing error on a grounder by Jesus Sanchez. Bednar allowed a tying bases-loaded walk to Christian Walker but got two strikeouts to keep the game tied and finished off New York’s second win in eight games with a 1-2-3 ninth.
Giancarlo Stanton drove in two runs and his RBI single with nobody out in the fifth gave the Yankees a 3-2 lead. Stanton also drew a bases-loaded walk in the first inning off Houston’s Framber Valdez.
Stanton came up with runners at first and second in his third encounter with Valdez after Judge walked on a pitch-clock violation and Bellinger singled.
On the first pitch, Stanton lined a single to center field to score Judge and move Bellinger to third. It was Stanton’s sixth hit in 12 career at-bats against Valdez.
Ben Rice accounted for New York’s other two runs. Rice lifted a sacrifice fly that scored Judge in the first and Bellinger scored on the catcher’s double play.
New York’s Luis Gil allowed two runs on six hits in 5 1/3 innings in his second start back from a strained lat. The reigning AL rookie of the year winner showed better command than Sunday’s season debut in Miami and notched seven strikeouts and walked one.
Gil’s outing ended at 91 pitches after he allowed a single to Carlos Correa. Mark Leiter Jr. followed Gil and ended the sixth by getting Walker to hit into a double play started by shortstop Anthony Volpe.
Jeremy Pena hit his fourth career leadoff homer and Correa hit a tying RBI single in the fourth as the Astros lost for the 17th time in 27 games.
Valdez allowed four runs on eight hits in 5 2/3 innings. Valdez struck out one and walked four.
–Field Level Media
