Astros again can’t stop Giancarlo Stanton in another loss to Yankees

NEW YORK —  Giancarlo Stanton polarizes this city with prodigious power but a plethora of strikeouts. Patrons are unafraid to voice their displeasure during his doldrums. They delight in his heroic home run streaks. They are witnessing the latter and lavishing praise. Stanton is pummeling any Astros pitcher he sees. 

Stanton ran his hitting streak to 11 games in Wednesday’s 6-3 win. He has 24 hits in his last 48 at-bats. He struck four hits Tuesday night. He terrorized a team of four more Astros pitchers Wednesday, driving in four of the Yankees’ six runs. He finished a triple shy of the cycle and struck two balls harder than 103 mph.

“You can’t make any mistakes to him,” Astros manager Dusty Baker said. “Right now, he’s hitting every mistake. He’s hitting good pitches and finding holes. 

The Astros are ensured a series loss and must face Gerrit Cole on Thursday afternoon. Their offense totalled five hits in the fourth inning and three during the eight others. Jose Altuve spiraled further into despair, deepening his slump to 3 for 32. Carlos Correa cratered to an 0-for-15 skid after an 0-for-4 night of his own. The lineup did not provide any comfort for a rookie starter in a hostile environment. The meager output forced unreliable relievers to operate with no margin for mistakes. 

“We’ve got to fight every day,” right fielder Aledmys Díaz said. “They have been playing better than us the last two games, but that’s part of the season. It’s a long season. We trust in everybody we’ve got in the clubhouse. We have to do good. Come tomorrow with the mindset to win and have a good game.”

For two innings of a tie game, Houston’s beleaguered bullpen held on for dear life. Ryne Stanek allowed a game-tying double to Stanton in the fifth, but stranded the bases loaded in the sixth to keep the score intact. Bryan Abreu allowed DJ LeMahieu and Stanton aboard to start the seventh. Neither man advanced another base. 

Manager Dusty Baker’s options then grew grim. The skipper has two reliable relievers to use. He spent Stanek for four outs in the fifth and sixth. Ryan Pressly is reserved for save situations. The rest of Baker’s choices are, on a good day, average. Wednesday was a bad day.

“You’d like to see us get into the ninth at least tied,” reliever Brooks Raley said. “A couple hits, walked a guy and before you know it, it’s three runs. It’s a good lineup, but I definitely feel we were right there.”

Baker allowed Raley to start the eighth. The southpaw faced three righthanded hitters. All reached base. Raley’s presence allowed switch-hitting Aaron Hicks to bat righthanded. His career OPS is 50 points higher against lefthanded pitchers than righties. When he bats as a righty against a lefty, Hicks has a .760 OPS. 

Raley raised it Wednesday. Hicks blooped an opposite-field single inside the right-field foul line to drive in the go-ahead run and end Raley’s evening. Baker brought in veteran sidearmer Joe Smith. He hit Brett Gardner with the first pitch he threw. 

Stanton mashed a single against Smith to add another run, offering a wider gap against the Astros’ impotent offense. Smith’s ERA now sits at 7.45. Raley’s is 9.49.

“They wore us down,” Baker said. “That’s what they do. They wear you down. They have good (strike) zone coverage and discipline.”

The Astros mustered two extra-base hits. Yankees starter Jordan Montgomery made it one time through its order with no damage. He yielded consecutive singles to start the third, but Jason Castro’s double play quelled any momentum. Stanton supplied him a two-run lead in the home half. Houston took it away almost immediately.

The Astros greeted him with three straight singles to start the fourth. Michael Brantley struck one into right field. Alex Bregman blooped another among four converging Yankees in shallow center field. Yordan Alvarez lined a missile back to Montgomery, who staggered off the mound and could not make the play. 

Correa chased one run home with a fielder’s choice, beating out the back end of a potential 4-6-3 double play. Gurriel followed with a double off the left-field wall. Bregman scored to tie the game. Interim third-base coach Omar Lopez waved Correa home from first seeking a lead.

Correa touched third base as left fielder Brett Gardner corralled the ricochet. His relay throw reached third baseman Gio Urshela while Correa chugged between third and home. Urshela’s throw home beat the shortstop by two steps. 

“Every night the questions are in hindsight,” Baker said. “Hindsight’s 20-20. If they don’t make a perfect really, it’s a heck of a play. If he gets thrown out, it’s ‘should he have sent him?’ The track at that time was kind of wet. It’s a judgment.”

Houston did not get another hit after the fourth. Starter Luis Garcia gave the club all they could have expected. He struck out eight across 4 ⅔ inefficient innings of two-run ball. At times, he appeared dominant. The Yankees swung and missed 13 times against his 92 pitches. Garcia struck out the side in the first inning on 16 pitches.

“OK, I think,” Garcia said of his outing. “I think it wasn’t the best one for me, personally, but I think that I did OK.”

The rookie righthander allowed one scary mistake to derail his outing. A first-pitch fastball slipped from his hand against LeMahieu in the third inning. The Yankee leadoff hitter hit the dirt as the baseball flew near his head. It plunked him on the shoulder, infuriating the crowd and allowing life into an inning that had none. Stanton sauntered to the plate. 

Garcia got strike one on a darting cutter that Stanton swung through. He tried to replicate it, but buried the pitch in the dirt to the count. Garcia came with a 92 mph fastball. It leaked over the heart of home plate. Stanton made contact and Garcia threw his right hand in the air. He did not watch the ball’s flight. There was no need. 

“He wasn’t trying to hit that location, obviously right down the middle,” Baker said. “And Stanton didn’t miss it.”