NEW YORK -- The stat sheet says Yankees first baseman Anthony Rizzo went 0-for-3 during the team’s 7-6 victory over the Astros at Yankee Stadium on Thursday night. But there's no denying his presence in the lineup, especially during one remarkable plate appearance.

In the sixth inning, facing Astros starter Framber Valdez, Rizzo saw 16 pitches before drawing a walk. Eleven of those pitches were fouled off -- which, if it didn't nearly knock Valdez out of the game, it certainly knocked him off his game.

“I don’t know how long Framber was going to go beyond that anyway. That, for sure, was going to put an end to his night in that inning at some point,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said.

The left-hander, who was in the midst of retiring 17 of the last 19 batters he faced, ended up exiting after the sixth inning, having thrown 101 pitches.

“That’s the most pitches I’ve ever thrown to a batter in an at-bat,” Valdez said of Rizzo, who had a similar plate appearance end in a dramatic homer when he was with the Cubs last season. “He was able to win that battle there, but it definitely was taxing. That’s the reason why I was only able to throw six innings.”

Two innings later, with a runner on base and the Yankees trailing by three, Rizzo put a charge into a Rafael Montero pitch that appeared as if it would hit the right-field wall for extra bases if it didn't clear the wall entirely for a two-run homer. But outfielder Kyle Tucker snatched it away from the fans with an incredible catch for the final out of the inning.

“Rizz, he didn’t have much to show for it tonight. He put up some pretty good at-bats with the play Tuck made on him,” Boone said. “[The sixth inning] was one of those at-bats where [Rizzo] gets the crowd energized, too. It was fun to watch him battle that at-bat.”