HOUSTON -- For the Yankees, Thursday night was all about extinguishing fires.
Wrapping up a three-game set that manager Aaron Boone said “took some months and years off me,” the Yankees topped the Astros, 8-4, to win the series at Daikin Park and complete a 5-1 road trip.
With the bullpen following his example by escaping jams in the seventh and ninth innings, Carlos Rodón earned his 16th win to grab a share of the Major League lead with Milwaukee’s Freddy Peralta. Rodón (16-7) threw 109 pitches over six innings, allowing two runs (one earned) on three hits and two walks.
"I thought he threw great today,” Boone said of his left-hander, whose 16th win also matched the career high he set last year. “With all those righties, I thought he used his changeup so well, and he had a good fastball to go with it. I thought he was really good even deep into the outing. I thought he was almost getting sharper.”
After a tough 8-7 loss on Wednesday, the Yankees had voiced their issues with home-plate umpire Brian Walsh’s strike zone. Rodón said his goal Thursday was to stay even-keeled, and he succeeded.
Boone was particularly impressed with how Rodón, who took a 4-1 lead into the sixth, persevered through some trouble in his final inning. After Yordan Alvarez, who hit a second-inning solo homer as part of his second consecutive four-hit night, doubled to lead off the sixth, Jose Altuve reached when his low liner to third baseman Ryan McMahon was ruled a drop on what appeared to be a transfer of the ball from glove to hand.
Rodón induced what appeared to be a double-play ball from Carlos Correa, but a wild relay throw by second baseman José Caballero, who entered the game after Jazz Chisholm departed with contusions in both knees, allowed Alvarez to score. Rodón then struck out Christian Walker and retired Yainer Diaz on a fly to right.
"That was interesting,” Rodón said of the ruling on the ball to McMahon. “Ryan’s obviously an elite defender. I haven’t watched it, but real time, he catches the ball. I saw it. The ball didn’t hit the ground. I think he was making an attempt to throw the ball to second. To me, that’s a transfer.”
Boone acknowledged that call, also by Walsh, raised his blood pressure, and the seventh inning brought more drama.
Luke Weaver, who had allowed a leadoff pinch-hit homer to Jesús Sánchez to make it 4-3, gave up two-out singles to Jeremy Peña and Alvarez.
Enter Fernando Cruz. The 35-year-old right-hander, who on Aug. 26 returned from his second IL stint of the season, worked the count full to Altuve before striking him out on an 81.2 mph splitter and celebrating demonstratively.
“Today I felt like [my splitter] was the best since I came off the IL,” Cruz said. “He thought it was a fastball and swung over it.
“I’m all about passion. I feel a lot for this team. I feel a lot for my boys. To win a series in this place is a tough thing, and for me coming out of it [with the strikeout in the seventh], I knew we had a really good chance after that of winning the game, so my emotions just exploded.”
The Yankees padded their lead with a four-run eighth, highlighted by Trent Grisham’s three-run homer, before Cruz threw a scoreless eighth.
But Boone aged a little more in the ninth when the Astros made it an 8-4 game on an Alvarez single and loaded the bases on an Altuve walk. Having allowed four of the five hitters he’d faced to reach, David Bednar struck out Correa and Christian Walker to seal the series and move New York within three games of AL East-leading Toronto on the eve of a three-game series against the Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium.
Boone lauded the grit of Bednar, who hadn’t pitched in six days.
"Not exactly how we drew it up,” Boone said. “I thought he was making pitches. Yordan cues the ball off him, and then he’s going through the heart of the order. A couple big punchouts to finish.”
Grisham’s home run made him the seventh Yankees center fielder to notch 30 in a season. He joined Mickey Mantle (nine times), Joe DiMaggio (seven times), Aaron Judge (twice), Curtis Granderson (twice), Bernie Williams (once) and Bobby Murcer (once).
McMahon plated three of New York’s first four runs via a solo homer and two RBI singles.