KATHY WILLENS/AP
Carlos Beltran’s sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth lifted the New York Yankees past the Houston Astros on Monday night at Yankee Stadium.
Beltran smacked Oliver Perez’s pitch to deep center after Perez walked Brett Gardner, Alex Rodriguez and Brian McCann. The fly scored Gardner for the lone run in the game. The Yankees, while handing the AL West leader their 18th road loss in Houston’s last 22 away games, are tied for first place in the AL East after the win.
Nathan Eovaldi pitched eight scoreless innings on a day when word came that the Yankees are likely to lose veteran CC Sabathia for the year. The 25-year-old right-hander struck out seven, walked three, and allowed four hits, reminding people of the 2007 Cy Award Winner’s glorious days. Eovaldi’s mound encounter, Scott Feldman, also did not allow a run in his eight innings, while striking out six.
Both teams had their shots before Beltran’s game-ending hit but failed to capitalize the opportunity. Carlos Correa led off the sixth with a single to right before Eovaldi walked Colby Rasmus. After Evan Gattis grounded out, the Yankees got Rasmus hung up between second and third before getting him out at the third. In the seventh, it looked like the Yankees would take the lead when McCann sprinted to the home plate off Chase Headley’s line drive to deep center. However, the Astros escaped a jam as catcher Hank Conger made a nice tag on McCann after Carlos Gomez’s laser rolled into his glove.
In the two team’s next matchup, Ivan Nova (5-5) will face off Dallas Keuchel (14-6) on Tuesday night at the Bronx.
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