HOUSTON — The Yankees won’t get to 162-0.
But Juan Soto hasn’t let them lose yet.
Soto delivered again with two outs in the ninth inning Sunday, facing Josh Hader for an opposite-field single that scored the go-ahead run and propelled the Yankees to a 4-3 win over the Astros, completing a sweep of four matches. at Minute Maid Park.
Soto’s third hit of the day capped his superb first series as a Yankee in which he went 9-for-17 with three walks and four RBIs.
He hit the home run in the seventh inning of Saturday’s win, then added even more heroics on Sunday.
The Astros threatened in the bottom of the ninth against Clay Holmes, hitting back-to-back singles to start the inning and later getting the tying run on third base with two outs.
But Alex Verdugo saved the day with a sliding catch to left field for the final out as the Yankees secured the sweep in style.
Gleyber Torres had given the Yankees life in the top of the ninth, hitting a two-out single against Hader, then getting a huge jumper to steal second. He was on the field again when Soto hit a single to left field and continued to move around third for the winning run.
Clarke Schmidt was pretty sharp in his season debut, but it ended on a sour note, as two of the three runs he allowed in five innings came in the sixth.
Jose Altuve and Kyle Tucker doubled him to bring the Astros within 3-2 and knock Schmidt out of the game before Tucker came in to score when Yainer Diaz struck out Jonathan Loaisiga.
Loaisiga ended up loading the bases but escaped the block.
Then in the seventh, Loaisiga walked Altuve with one out, leaving Caleb Ferguson to try to get away.
Altuve reached third on a wild pitch and an error, but Ferguson struck out Yordan Alvarez and then got Alex Bregman to ground out to end the inning.
For the first time in this series, the Yankees scored first on Sunday. Giancarlo Stanton led off the second inning with a smoky double to left field, then scored in the third on a deep ball to center from Verdugo.
With two outs, Jose Trevino launched a well-placed bloop into shallow right field that fell on a single to score Stanton for a 1-0 lead.
Altuve tied it in the third inning, taking advantage of a 1-2 sweep that Schmidt left over the middle of the plate and hitting it into the Crawford Boxes in left field for the solo home run.
It might have been a two-run shot, except Trevino caught Jeremy Peña stealing second earlier in the inning.
But the Yankees had an immediate response to regain the lead in the top of the fourth.
Anthony Rizzo led off with a double and two outs later, scored when Jon Berti – a late addition to the lineup after Anthony Volpe was sidelined with a stomach ailment – launched a single to right field to bring in the score at 2-1.
Soto continued to showcase strong defense in the bottom of the fourth, making a run into the field gap in right center to deny Bregman more bases and potentially prevent a run from being scored.
The Yankees increased their lead in the top of the fifth by scoring another run.
Oswaldo Cabrera led off with a walk and two batters later, Soto singled to the left side to put runners on the corners. Aaron Judge then cashed in with a sacrifice fly to center to make it 3-1.
New York Post
