The Houston Astros swept the New York Yankees in a doubleheader on Thursday. Once again, the Yankees faced trouble against Houston, who have been one of the few teams to pose a significant threat against arguably the best team in baseball.
After Jordan Montgomery gave up just two runs in 6.1 innings during the first game of the doubleheader, starter Domingo German was batted around, getting through just 3.0 innings of action.
This was German‘s first appearance of the season after rehabilitating from a shoulder injury. He had enjoyed five rehab assignments, with two coming in Triple-A. However, injecting him into the starting rotation against Houston was always a losing recipe, as he gave up five earned runs and six hits over just 58 pitches.
This was not the way German expected to revive his season, but he will look ahead to his next opportunity to try and right the ship.
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The Yankees struggled to get anything going on offense until late in the game:
Offensively, the Yankees tallied eight hits and five runs, striking out 10 times. While Aaron Judge picked up a three-run homer in the top of the 9th inning to draw the Yankees within two, he struck out three times. Giancarlo Stanton also added three strikeouts, failing to make an impact. Astros starter Luis Garcia went to 5.0 innings, giving up three hits and two earned runs, but the bullpen had trouble getting through the rest of the game.
This was a disappointing two-game series for the Yankees, who dropped two games in the overall standings, drawing the Dodgers within two and Houston within 2.5 games of the top seed. In the AL East, they still host a 12-game lead but will be looking to get back in the win column against the Baltimore Orioles in a three-game series starting on Friday night.
Manager Aaron Boone will feature Jameson Taillon on the mound, who was supposed to get the start in Game 2 of the doubleheader but elected to take an extra day off instead. Tyler Wells will feature for the Orioles, hosting a 3.38 ERA this season over 85.1 innings. He is arguably Baltimore’s top pitcher this year.