Tucker's 11th HR unable to inspire Astros

NEW YORK -- The Astros are used to facing a hostile environment when they enter Yankee Stadium. The thundering boos and chants directed at superstars like Jose Altuve and Alex Bregman, rapturous and overzealous cheers at every sliver of success from the Bronx Bombers: It’s all become second nature for Houston when the club squares off with its fiercest non-division rival.

What the Astros are not used to is the sobering results that have followed that heightened intensity against the Yankees. Wednesday night was the latest example of Houston’s early-season struggles -- a lopsided defeat, 9-4, for the second consecutive game against New York. The Astros’ record against the Yankees dropped to 0-6 this year, with their season mark lowering to 12 games below .500.

In the first two contests, the Astros have been outscored 19-5, and they have led for just one inning over that span. Consider it a wake-up call.

“It’s not great, [but] it’s not for a lack of effort,” manager Joe Espada said after the game. “The guys want it, but we just got to do a better job of executing. We just can’t pretend that things are going to turn around by luck. No, we have to force it. We have to do something to change the outcome.

“A lineup like that, the Yankees are going to sit around and wait for you to make pitches, and you got to execute. If not? Big innings.”

The evening began with a burst of promise in the same manner as the previous night -- with Kyle Tucker crushing a thunderous blast for a solo shot into right-field bleachers in the first inning, off lefty Carlos Rodón. It was Tucker's third consecutive game with a home run and his 11th homer overall, tied for the American League lead. But the optimism was snuffed out in the bottom half of the frame, when Juan Soto laced a two-run home run to left-center field off of right-hander Spencer Arrighetti to immediately grab the lead back.

Arrighetti, Houston’s top pitching prospect, settled in by striking out Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton to end the inning. However, mistake pitches and constant traffic on the basepaths made for a labored outing. Arrighetti had to navigate out of bases-loaded jam in the second inning, getting Soto to chop an infield single that resulted in a costly baserunning error by the Yankees. Then in the third, he gave up loud homers to Judge and Stanton, leaving a four-seamer and curveball in the middle of the plate, respectively, to two of the most dangerous hitters in baseball.

“Mistakes. I think every ball that left the yard was down the middle,” Arrighetti said. “Can’t throw it there and expect good results against those caliber hitters. That’s pretty much what it boils down to: I just missed over the middle when I needed to execute.”

Yet, despite the mistakes, Arrighetti battled in his first career start at Yankee Stadium, getting through five innings while allowing five runs on eight hits, striking out four against three walks.

The issue is that the early barrage coincided with the Astros being shut down by Rodón, who allowed just five baserunners between innings two to six. During that stretch, the only players to log hits against the lefty were Jeremy Peña and Mauricio Dubón -- who each finished with three hits.

“I feel like [Rodón] trusts his stuff and he was coming right at us,” Peña said. “He started mixing a little bit more as the game went on, but yeah.”

Houston broke through again with an RBI triple off the bat of Jake Meyers in the seventh, forcing Rodón out of the game. But by that point, the Astros were already facing a seven-run deficit -- a difficult hole for any lineup to crawl out of. Especially a team whose largest comeback of the year was just three runs, and entered holding a 1-16 record when trailing after six innings.

“That was the whole idea: With our offense, if we can just keep the game close, we got a chance to strike,” Espada said.

It can be difficult to scrounge for positives amid a four-game losing streak and back-to-back blowouts, but the Astros could potentially find some solace in the late-inning barrage. They scored in each of the final three innings, threatening with traffic until the final out against the team with the best bullpen ERA in the Majors.

Peña, who crushed a solo home run in the eighth inning and raised his batting average to .326 (second-highest among AL shortstops), can feel the team on the precipice of waking up fully.

“I feel like we’re not far from where we want to get to,” he said. “Things are going to click. … We’ll put together better at-bats. And that’s the key. For us to put together better at-bats in key situations.”