Yankees top Astros to snap skid
HOUSTON -- CC Sabathia snapped a six-start winless streak and the New York Yankees claimed their third consecutive series with a 6-3 victory over the Houston Astros on Tuesday night at Minute Maid Park.
Sabathia (6-8) produced his best start since mid-June, allowing just two runs on four hits and two walks with five strikeouts over 6 2/3 innings. He has surrendered at least four runs and seven hits in each of his six starts dating back to a 4-1 win over the Twins on June 16.
Jacoby Ellsbury finished 3-for-5 with Carlos Beltran, Mark Teixeira and Starling Castro recorded two hits apiece to pace the Yankees (52-48) offense. The bottom third of the Yankees order produced five RBIs.
The Astros (54-46) fashioned a threat against the Yankees bullpen, with Marwin Gonzalez completing his first career multi-homer game with a solo shot off right-hander Anthony Swarzak in the eighth inning.
Gonzalez belted his ninth and 10th homers, one from each side of the plate to become the first player in club history to accomplish that feat since Lance Berkman did so against the Chicago Cubs on July 3, 2006.
Dellin Betances later relieved Swarzak and walked Evan Gattis and Alex Bregman to load the bases with two outs before striking out Jason Castro on three consecutive pitches to quell the rally.
Gattis cranked his 17th home run off Sabathia in the seventh inning. Astros third baseman Luis Valbuena departed in the second inning with a right hamstring strain.
Astros right-hander Doug Fister (10-7) retired the Yankees in order in the first inning, but his promising start proved to be fool's gold.
Fister would allow baserunners in each of his following four innings, departing with two outs in the fifth to match his shortest outing of 2016. Teixeira and Castro were particularly effective against Fister, combining to reach base six times and six plate appearances through the fifth.
Both recorded hits in the second inning, with Teixeira and Castro sandwiching a double and a single around a Didi Gregorius sacrifice fly that pulled the Yankees even at 1-1. Chase Headley followed with an RBI single that scored Teixeira and put the Yankees ahead to stay at 2-1.
After Castro extended the lead to 3-1 with his run-scoring single in the third, he was intentionally walked to load the bases with one out in the fifth. Headley followed with a sacrifice fly that scored Brian McCann before Aaron Hicks chased Fister with a two-run triple that scored Teixeira and Castro and pushed the Yankees to a 6-1 advantage.
Fister, whose start against the White Sox on July 2 lasted just 4 2/3 innings, departed having allowed six runs on nine hits and three walks.
NOTES: Yankees LHP Chasen Shreve was optioned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to make room on the roster for RHP Adam Warren, who was acquired Monday as part of a five-player trade with the Cubs. Shreve was 1-1 with a 4.30 ERA in 24 games, with 18 hits, seven walks and 20 strikeouts in 23 innings. Warren will initially work out of the Yankees' bullpen. ... One night after making his major league debut at third base, rookie Alex Bregman served as the designated hitter. Bregman went through the paces in left field during pregame with Astros manager A.J. Hinch announcing that Bregman could start in left on Wednesday night. ... Astros CF Carlos Gomez was eighth in the batting order for a third consecutive start and fourth time this season, a move linked to yet another prolonged slump. Gomez entered Tuesday batting .125 with 14 strikeouts in 52 plate appearances since his last multi-hit game on July 6. His weighted on-base average (.263) would rank third worst if he had enough plate appearances to qualify.