Astros Survive a Late Yankees Rally

by Jake Lax, September 05, 2025

As October baseball nears, two teams are fighting to finish the season strong and continue into the Playoffs. On Wednesday night, game two of a three-game series in Houston between the Astros and the New York Yankees saw an exciting game, one we hope to see more of in October. The Astros have a slight control over the rest of the A.L. West, with the Mariners and Rangers four and five games behind, respectively. As for the Yankees, they are fighting with the Blue Jays and Red Sox for the A.L. East title, with Boston and New York currently trailing by three games. If September doesn’t finish with a wild curveball, expect all three of Toronto, Boston, and New York in the postseason, two via Wild Card.

On Wednesday night, we say right-handers Will Warren for the Yankees and Jason Alexander for Houston. The starters’ first turn through the lineup didn’t see much contact besides a solo homerun for the great Giancarlo Stanton in the second inning. This was Stanton’s 18th homerun of the year and put the Yankees up 1-0. More firepower came around in the fourth inning as first baseman Ben Rice got on with a single. Following Rice was catcher Austin Wells, who worked a full count and smacked a two-run homer to left field, extending the Yankees’ lead to three. While Alexander was running into issues, Warren was dealing all the way up to the bottom of the fifth, where he ran into trouble. Yainer Diaz doubled and was moved over to third on a Victor Caratini single. This set up Ramon Urias to drive in Diaz on a sacrifice fly to give the Astros their first run of the game, fighting back only down two runs.

Bullpen Blues

Both teams ended up going to the bullpen in the sixth with Steven Okert replacing Astros’ starter Jason Alexander. Okert ran into trouble as soon as he entered, giving leadoff hits to Rice and Wells. With Wells on third, Ryan McMahon came up to provide the Yankees another run, driving in Wells on a sacrifice fly to center field. As for the Yankees starter Will Warren, he came out of the game after Houston’s shortstop Jeremy Pena hit a leadoff solo homerun to cut the deficit to 4-2. Yankees manager Aaron Boone was forced to go to the bullpen, bringing in Fernando Cruz to replace Warren. Cruz faced trouble as soon as he entered, giving a double to Yordan Alvarez and advancing him to third on a wild pitch. Alvarez was able to score on a Jose Altuve ground out bringing the Astros within one run.

Cruz ended up getting replaced to start the seventh inning for Luke Weaver. Yordan Alvarez was able to strike again, hitting a game-tying RBI single, tying the ballgame at four apiece. The Houston bullpen was very strong up to this point, as the Yankees brought in one of their best bullpen arms in the eighth, Devin Williams. The right-hander had a very poor outing, giving up a leadoff double to Carlos Correa and three walks, one coming with the bases loaded, giving the Astros a one-run lead. This walk angered Williams, screaming at the home-plate umpire, “You missed four.” This argument led to ejections by both Devin Williams and manager Aaron Boone. The Yankees had to find a new arm to bring in following the ejection; they went to Camilo Doval. With the bases loaded, Doval tried his best to escape the inning but failed, giving up an RBI single to Jeremy Pena. Doval ended up giving up two more runs by poor pitching control, having a balk and a wild pitch to give the Astros a commanding 8-4 lead to end the eighth.

Yankees Rally

The Yankees entered the ninth with three outs left and four runs to make up. Houston brought in Bryan Abreu to try to close the door and give the Astros the win. The Yankees were down to their last out with Aaron Judge at the plate. He ended up hitting a clutch single, giving the Yankees runners on the corners with two down. This brought up Cody Bellinger, who smashed a clutch three-run homer, bringing life into the Yankees only down one run. As tension was rising, Jazz Chisholm Jr came up to bat, the tying run at the plate. Abreu was able to slam the door, striking out Chisholm and giving the Astros the win in a close 8-7 game.

The Astros escaped the rally, taking to win to position themselves to take the A.L. West. Both teams gathered eleven hits, but the eighth-inning blunder from Devin Williams made the difference, as he’ll record the loss. The Yankees fall to 77-62, second in the A.L. East and fighting for the division but might end up sneaking in as a wild card team. These two could very well face off again in October, but they’ll have to finish off September baseball first. As it sits today, the Astros have a 3-2 season record against the Yankees, and they’ll close out the series on Thursday night. Carlos Rodon will be on the bump for the Yankees as they’ll face off against Cristian Javier of the Astros.