Greinke's short start leads to trouble in 6th

As things spun out of control for the Astros with young relief pitchers Brandon Bielak and Bryan Abreu on the mound in the sixth inning Tuesday night, an abbreviated outing by starting pitcher Zack Greinke was looming larger by the moment in the long-awaited rematch of the 2019 American League Championship Series.

Greinke’s inability to work deep into a game for the second consecutive start put the onus on an Astros bullpen that wasn’t up to the challenge. Bielak and Abreu gave up two runs each in a messy sixth that allowed the Yankees to pull away in Houston's 7-3 loss at raucous Yankee Stadium.

Greinke allowed the first five batters he faced to reach, with Giancarlo Stanton hitting a two-run home run to answer Alex Bregman’s homer in the first. Greinke needed 27 pitches to record his first out, getting a pair of them on a double-play ball off the bat of Clint Frazier with the bases loaded that pushed a run home for a 3-1 Yankees lead.

That was the beginning of a stretch in which Greinke sent down 11 of the final 13 batters he faced, but a 31-pitch first inning meant he was out after 84 pitches and four innings.

“Greinke gave us all he had that first inning or so,” Astros manager Dusty Baker said. “His pitch count was real high, and that takes a lot of energy out of you.”

After posting a 2.76 ERA and a 1.10 WHIP with four walks in 32 2/3 innings through his first five starts, Greinke has a 7.88 ERA and a 1.63 WHIP in his last two starts, allowing seven hits, seven runs and six walks in eight innings.

“I’m usually really consistent, and it’s been kind of some ups and downs, which hasn’t been ideal,” Greinke said. “It’s a long season, and hopefully I’ll figure it out.”

The four walks by Greinke tied for his most in an Astros uniform. He also walked four batters at Yankee Stadium in Game 4 of the 2019 ALCS. On Tuesday, the Astros walked a season-high nine batters, three of which scored.

“Tonight, the walks haunted us,” Baker said.

The Astros had battled to tie the game at 3 in the fourth and in the fifth turned to Bielak, a starter turned long reliever who made his debut last year. He worked a scoreless inning and left in the sixth with two runners on base and two outs. Abreu walked the nine-hole hitter to load the bases and set the stage for disaster for the Astros.

DJ LeMahieu hit a two-out dribbler toward third on an 0-2 pitch that Bregman fielded with his bare hand and threw wildly past first base. Gleyber Torres and Kyle Higashioka scored easily and Rougned Odor was waved around as well, crashing into catcher Martín Maldonado as he scored the Yanks’ sixth run. The damage was done.

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“Abreu had him eating out of his hand,” Baker said. “He hit that dribbler up the third-base line and they got three runs on that. It just wasn’t our night.”

Bregman said he was trying to make an aggressive play and wound up making an error on a night when the Astros had no room for mistakes.

“Looking back now, I probably should have ate it,” he said. “I haven’t been able to look at the replay since it happened. LeMahieu definitely would have beat the ball even if I got it there.”