Tanaka pounded as pesky Yankees flirt with comeback in 10-7 loss on Derek Jeter Night

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Following the historical Derek Jeter retirement of no. 2 into Monument Park and coming off an exciting win of game one of this doubleheader, the Yankees came into game two looking to even the series at two game apiece. Masahiro Tanaka took the mound tonight with a 4.36 ERA on the season to tackle the strong Astros lineup. Charlie Morton had the ball for Houston tonight to face the Yankees and came into the Bronx with a 3.63 ERA. Tanaka would struggle mightily allowing eight earned runs spotting the Yankees a deficit that they could not recover from.

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The Astros jumped on the board quickly in the first inning when Tanaka was absolutely shelled. George Springer and Josh Reddick hit back-to-back solo home runs to open up the game and make the score 2-0 Astros. Later in the inning, Tanaka hit Yuli Gurriel to load the bases.  Shortly after, Alex Bregman hit a grand slam, his first homer of the year, which gave the Yankees a six-run deficit before even coming to the plate.

The Yankees offense failed to produce in the bottom of the first inning, and brought us to the second. To start off the second right away from the top of the order, Springer hit his second home run of the game to make it 7-0 Astros. Carlos Beltran was the last batter to face Tanaka tonight in a long at-bat that ended with Beltran hitting an RBI double, that scored Carlos Correa to put the Astros eighth run on the scoreboard. Tanaka gave up eight earned runs on the evening, and was booed off the field following his disappointing start. Giovanny Gallegos took the ball from Tanaka and faced Brian McCann, who he would strike out to end the inning.

In the beginning of the fourth, Gallegos walked Springer and Reddick reached on catcher’s interference that allowed both of them to get on base. Correa hit a sacrifice fly that scored Springer and made the score 9-0 Astros. Nothing happened with the Yankees bats this inning, and ended the fourth.

With two outs in the top of the fifth, Gallegos was relieved by Chasen Shreve. The Yankees offense came alive and managed to put a run on the board in the bottom of the fifth with an RBI single by Brett Gardner that scored Chris Carter making the game 9-1, Astros. Matt Holliday then hit a three-run shot to right field that made the game 9-4 Astros.

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Getting some extra work in, Dellin Betances relieve Tommy Layne in the top of the ninth. Pinch running for Altuve, Marwin Gonzalez scored on a passed ball and made the score 10-4 Houston.

The Yankees would try to rally in the ninth as Ronald Torreyes singled to lead off the inning, followed by Gary Sanchez’s double to leave runners on second and third. Torreyes managed to score on a wild pitch by Dayan Diaz, and made the score 10-5 Astros. Working on a comeback, Starlin Castro hit an RBI single that scored Sanchez and made the score 10-6 Astros.

Aaron Judge hit a single scoring Castro after the ball would scoot by Jake Marisnick in left field, and it made the game 10-7 Astros. Judge would get to third on the play. Gregorius then walked to bring the tying run to the plate in Aaron Hicks, but he grounded out to end the game allowing the Astros to win 10-7.

Winning Pitcher: Charlie Morton (5-2, 3.97 ERA): 5.2 IP, 4 H, 4 R (4 ER), 10 K, 1 HR

Losing Pitcher: Masahiro Tanaka (5-2, 5.80 ERA): 1.2 IP, 7 H, 8 R (8 ER), 1 BB, 3 K, 4 HR

Notables:

Brett Gardner: 3-4, R, RBI, K

Gary Sanchez: 2-4, 2 R, BB, 2 K

Matt Holliday: 1-5, HR (7), R, 3 RBI, 3 K

Giovanny Gallegos: 3.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R (0 ER), 1 BB, 3 K

Chasen Shreve: 2.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K

Tommy Layne: 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K

Dellin Betances: 0.1 IP, 2 H, 1 R (0 ER), 0 BB, 0 K

George Springer: 2-4, 2 HR (8, 9), 2 RBI, 3 R, 1 BB, 1 K

Josh Reddick: 1-4, HR (5), RBI, R, K

Carlos Correa: 2-3, 2 R, RBI, BB

Carlos Beltran: 205, R, RBI, 2B, K

Alex Bregman: 1-4, HR (1 - Grand Slam), 4 RBI, R, 2 K

Article By: Natalie Calzetoni

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